I would have picked Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik, and Shubman Gill for the T20 World Cup: Dilip Vengsarkar

Former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar has shared his thoughts on India’s T20 World Cup, which was picked on Sunday. Vengsarkar stated he would have included Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik, and Shubman Gill in the squad if he was a national selector.

Many cricket experts have shared their surprise at the exclusion of Mohammed Shami in the T20 World Cup. Shami has been named in the T20I squad for the series against Australia and South Africa while he is named in the reserve players list for the T20I showpiece. The ace paceman had scalped 20 wickets in 16 T20I matches for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 but didn’t get his chance for the national team.

Umran Malik, on the other hand, had impressed with his extra pace while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022. Malik scalped 22 wickets in 14 matches for the Orange Army but he was expensive in his bowling when he got a chance to play for the national team.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill also had a great run in the IPL for Gujarat Titans as he scored 487 runs in 16 matches for the team. Furthermore, Gill has been in good form in the recent past as he bagged the Player of the Series in the ODI series against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

“I would have picked Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik and Shubman Gill for the T20 World Cup. Would have given them a long run in T20Is because they all had a brilliant IPL season,” Vengsarkar told The Indian Express.

“I can’t really comment on who bats at what number. It is up to the think tank, the coach, the captain and the vice-captain. But I feel Suryakumar Yadav, who is batting at 4, can bat at 5 as well. He can be a great finisher,” he said.

Vengsarkar added that the batters should adopt an aggressive approach in the T20I format and the batting order doesn’t matter a lot in the shortest version of the game.

“T20 is not like ODIs and Test cricket, where you need certain batters at certain positions. In this format, anybody can bat anywhere. You don’t have time to settle down. One should go after the bowlers from ball one,” said Vengsarkar.

India will take on Australia and South Africa before the T20 World Cup.