T20 World Cup 2024: Australian legend Matthew Hayden has given his playing XI of India at this year's T20 World Cup, as the former Australian international's starting XI sees some surprising inclusions and exclusion, and also a shuffling in the top order. Matthew Hayden, who previously coached Pakistan at the 2021 T20 World Cup, has been actively involved within the Indian circuit from past two months due to his presence in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.






Hayden has promoted Virat Kohli's position from number 3 to opener, alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, and the slot left vacant by Virat Kohli will be filled in by Suryakumar Yadav, who will also see a promotion from number 4 to 3.


Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is being demoted to number 4, given his aggressive style of batting can come in handy at any given situation. Alongside Rohit, the middle order will be filled by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, vice-captain Hardik Pandya, and a surprise inclusion of Shivam Dube.


For the lower order and spin department, Matthew Hayden has trusted the ever-reliable Ravindra Jadeja alongside Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Arshdeep Singh. This lineup of Indian Cricket Team (ICT) has seen the surprise exclusion of Mohammad Siraj, who has been India's highest wicket taking pacer across all formats since the start of 2023.


Also, the former Pakistan national team coach has excluded Yuzvendra Chahal inspite of the fact that wickets in this year's edition have so far seen dominance from spinners. The exclusion of highly-inconsistent Shivam Dube seems to be baffling, given the fact that there are much experienced and proven match-winning all-rounders in the form of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja.


 


India's Squad For T20 World Cup 2024


India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj


Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan