Wisden has come up with a fascinating Combines XI for T20 Format including the players of India and Pakistan. In this article, we shall be seeing the combined XI and discuss how good it is and we shall also discuss what changes (if any) are needed in the Team.
Let us have a look at the playing XI first:-
1. ROHIT SHARMA (C)
2. MOHAMMAD RIZWAN (WK)
3. VIRAT KOHLI
4. SURYAKUMAR YADAV
5. SHREYAS IYER
6. ASIF ALI
7. SHADAB KHAN
8. RAVINDRA JADEJA
9. HARIS RAUF
10. SHAHEEN SHAH AFRIDI
11. JASPRIT BUMRAH
As we can see, the team in concern has 6 Indian players and 5 Indian players which Rohit Sharma as the captain and Mohammad Rizwan as the Wicketkeeper.
The big detail that first comes to our notice is that there is no Babar Azam and Rishabh Pant in the team. Now, we might argue that the Pakistan captain can easily find a spot in the team if he is replaced by India’s Shreyas Iyer and then moved up some spots. However, given the batting lineup, Shreyas Iyer can provide better performance than Babar Azam at no.5 and obviously, we can not remove Virat Kohli from the No.3 spot. So that is a spot where the fans could be divided in opinions.
Another thing to be considered is Rishabh Pant’s exclusion. The Indian wicket-keeper has provided with a number of fabulous performances as a finisher over the years and while it is true that Mohammad Rizwan might be a more responsible batter and better wicket-keeper than Rishabh Pant, Pant’s big hits are required down the order. Thus, he might very well replace Asif Ali but then again Asif Ali’s finishing in the T20 World cup was commendable and it’s another arguable point of discussion.
The rest of the team looks fine and the team overall is pretty damn strong. So what do you think about the team and what changes would you suggest?