India vs Pakistan, T20 World Cup 2022: India pick Ashwin over Chahal for blockbuster clash; Shami, Karthik also included

Team India on Sunday decided to go with Ravichandran Ashwin in their XI over Yuzvendra Chahal for the blockbuster T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan in Melbourne.

India won the toss, and skipper Rohit Sharma opted to field in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the two teams officially beginning their T20 World Cup 2022 journey.

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Ashwin was picked as one of the two spinners in the lineup, the other being Ravindra Jadeja’s like-for-like replacement Axar Patel. Chahal, who had been overlooked for last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, was benched despite being a likely candidate for the primary spinner’s slot.

Additionally, Mohammed Shami was picked as the lead pace option by the Men in Blue; Shami had bowled himself into contention after a heroic final over in the warm-up match against Australia in Brisbane, in which he collected three wickets for just four runs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar took up the second seamer’s slot while left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who has had a mixed run in recent games, was preferred over Harshal Patel.

As for the wicketkeeper’s slot, Dinesh Karthik was awarded the slot over Rishabh Pant in what was largely an expected move.

Pakistan had hammered India by 10 wickets in Dubai last year the last time these two teams met in a T20 World Cup match. The arch-rivals also squared off twice in the recently-concluded Asia Cup, both winning a game each.

India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

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