RP Singh picks India’s playing XI for T20 World Cup 2021 match against Pakistan

Former Indian cricketer RP Singh has picked Team India’s playing eleven for the match against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, October 24 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Ahead of the marquee clash, India are being deemed as the firm favourites since Pakistan have never beaten them in T20 World Cups since their first meeting back in 2007.

In their previous meeting in 2016, Virat Kohli’s half-century took India over the line at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In the meantime, Singh picked Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as his two openers followed by Indian skipper Kohli. Rohit has four T20I tons to his name and Rahul was in excellent form for the Punjab Kings in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.

Singh leaves out Bhuvneshwar Kumar

At number four, Singh went for Rishabh Pant, who has grown leaps and bounds across formats in the last one year. Suryakumar Yadav, who generally bats in the top three, featured at five in Singh’s playing eleven. Yadav gained some form in the IPL after some lacklustre shows. Singh didn’t go for Ishan Kishan, who made his debut for India earlier this year, in the eleven.

Singh picked Hardik Pandya in his eleven despite the latter not being completely fit to bowl. He picked Ravindra Jadeja, who was in excellent for form the Chennai Super Kings in the 2021 IPL. Singh also went for Shardul Thakur in his eleven. Shardul wasn’t initially picked in the squad, but he made his way into the scheme of things after Axar Patel was left out.

As his other fast bowlers, Singh picked Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, who both were impressive in the warm-up matches. However, he refrained from picking Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India’s strike bowler in limited-overs cricket over the last few years.

Bhuvneshwar strained in the IPL and in the warm-ups as well. Singh picked Varun Chakravarthy, who was fantastic for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Chakravarthy made his debut for the Men in Blue earlier this year.

RP Singh’s XI

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

Hello everyone! Here is my playing XI for #INDvPAK#T20WorldCup2021 game. What about yours?
Rohit
Rahul
Kohli
Pant
Surya
Hardik
Jadeja
Thakur
Bumrah
Shami
Varun Chakravarty#IndvsPak #ICCT20WorldCup #ICCT20WorldCup2021 #MaukaMauka #indiaVsPakistan

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) October 24, 2021