Didn’t bowl Hardik often as we were saving him for World Cup: Chetan Sharma

India announced its squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday (8 September). While there were few surprises in store with the return of Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel, the biggest of them probably was the omission of opener Shikhar Dhawan from the team. Many speculated that India skipper Virat Kohli might open as he did during the last T20I series against England earlier this year. But Team India’s chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma has confirmed that Kohli has not been picked in the team as an opener.

The 15-member squad has three openers in the form of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan. While Rahul showed remarkable consistency at the top for the past year, Kishan was picked in the team as second wicketkeeper-batter and due to his explosive batting at the top of the order. The selectors have also made it clear that Rishabh Pant is the primary choice for wicketkeeping for the marquee event.

With three openers, the selectors have hinted at the possibility of Kohli walking in at his number three position. But they have kept the option open of Kohli partnering Rohit Sharma at the top as well. “If the management thinks that Virat should be played as an opener depending on the situation, then it’s up to them … What the circumstances are during the tournament that only till will tell but at this time, we only have the three openers I named,” said Chetan Sharma in the press conference.

Chetan Sharma further praised Ishan Kishan for his utility and his versatility in playing spinners well in the middle order. “Ishan Kishan can bat as an opener as well as fit in as a middle-order batsman. He gave us a lot of options as a player. He’s already opened in the ODI format and even got a fifty in the first game. He’s also a good player of spin in the middle order. Also, a left-hander is important. When legspinners from different countries come at us, someone explosive like Ishan is important. That’s why Ishan made the cut.”

Hardik is absolutely fit and he is going to bowl during T20 World Cup: Chetan Sharma

Speaking about the bowling attack, India have gone with four-seamers, which includes all-rounder Hardik Pandya as well. Apart from that, there are five spinners taking into account the slowness of the pitches in the UAE.

“Considering the wickets we could get, where only two fast bowlers play, there’s no point taking someone to warm the bench. It was better to take utility players who can come in handy. We did discuss T Natarajan’s name but he hasn’t played cricket for long, and he’s also been on the injury list, so we stuck to the main guys who are our strike bowlers,” he said.

Pandya, of late, has slowly begun to bowl but Chetan Sharma has said that the all-rounder is fit and will bowl his quota of fours overs in the marquee event.

“There’s always an intention to have some variation but, because of the wickets that are expected, we decided on three fast bowlers with Hardik Pandya as the fourth bowler. In that case, it was difficult to include a left-arm fast bowler. Hardik is absolutely fit and he’s going to bowl his quota of overs in every match. We didn’t bowl him very often because we were saving him for the World Cup.”