T20 World Cup 2024: India should pick two wrist-spinners, feels Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan (Pic: File Pic)

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024, the "men in Blue" squad must consist of five specialist bowlers along with two wrist spinners. The T20 World Cup 2024 is set to begin in June in the USA and the West Indies.

With May 1 being the deadline for the announcement of the final squad for the global showpiece, the discussions regarding India's squad have taken centre stage.

"You need five good bowlers that's a must. What are your wicket-taking options? When you're talking about Ravindra Jadeja at No. 8 and playing as a spin (all-rounder), I would rather have two wrist-spinners playing", Pathan told Star Sports.

I would rather have two proper wrist-spinners playing, (Ravi) Bishnoi and Kuldeep (Yadav), in my playing XI. If you look at Bishnoi's numbers, you know, when he played, he was pretty good."

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When asked about Chahal, Pathan doesn't seem in favour of picking him in the World Cup squad. "Yes, we're talking about Chahal right now because of the IPL performances but don't forget the fielding part of it as well. If you have to balance the fielding, you have to balance where a bowler can bowl at the particular area", he said.

Additionally, Pathan only considered pacer Jasprit Bumrah as the automatic selection among the bowlers. "There's only one player who you can blindly say (certain for selection) is Bumrah. But apart from Bumrah, you need at least two fast bowlers who can be part of the regular XI", the former India cricketer said.

The biggest problem the Indian team has is the combination of fast bowling. It's very important to fix that combination, so go towards experience.

"With Bumrah, you can see (Mohammed) Siraj and Arshdeep (Singh) there, which I don't think is ideal, but this is the only option you have now, he said.

Former Indian batsman K Srikkanth doesn't want Mohammed Siraj to be a part of the Indian squad ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024. "Bumrah is in the squad. Arshdeep as well. But the third pacer can't be Siraj. He'll bowl well in one game and then not perform in 10 games. He's an erratic bowler, you saw it in the World Cup", he said.

"That's why I'm saying we should look at who's bowling well in the death overs, and that is Avesh Khan. He's been performing well and he's done well on the international front, he has a little experience as well. He's mastered the wide yorkers also", Srikkanth added.

However, former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody backed Siraj saying that he is mentally and physically fatigued. "He looks mentally and physically fatigued. He has come into this IPL having played a lot of all format cricket for India for a long period of time", he said.

"He plays his cricket in the IPL at probably the hardest venue (Bengaluru) whether you bowl quick or you bowl spin that needs to be taken into consideration. The third thing is he's playing in a poor side. RCB have been a poor side this year and it's very hard to rise with what's happening around you. I would back him 100 per cent to step up in the World Cup, purely because if you look at historically what he's done for India and even what he did in the IPL last year", Moody added.

(With PTI Inputs)