Ashish Nehra drops Mohammed Shami from his T20 World Cup 2022 squad

Indian players celebrate win over Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022 (PC: Twitter)

Former cricketer Ashish Nehra has listed out his 15-player Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia next month. Notably, the Gujarat Titans coach did not include his IPL compatriot and senior Indian speedster Mohammed Shami in his line-up.

Nehra picks Virat Kohli to bat at number three for India

Nehra, who played the last of his 164 internationals for India in 2017, picked KL Rahul and captain Rohit Sharma as his first-choice openers for the tournament.

Virat Kohli, who recently struck his maiden T20I hundred as an opener against Afghanistan, was placed at number three by the former speedster. He also selected hard-hitting batsmen Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja as an inter-changeable middle-order in the ‘Men in Blue’ playing XI.

Virat Kohli reaches maiden T20I ton with a six, watch video

Jadeja’s official selection by the BCCI, however, seems unlikely at the moment, considering the all-rounder is currently nursing his knee injury.

Nehra picked Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal as his specialist spinners for the side. All-rounder Deepak Hooda and seasoned campaigner Dinesh Karthik also found spots in his expanded squadron.

Interestingly, veteran pacer Mohammed Shami found no place in Nehra’s pace quartet for the T20 showpiece event. He picked young Arshdeep Singh in his squad instead, alongside the likes of white-ball experts Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel.

Justifying Shami’s exclusion, the former cricketer said:

“One name, however, comes in my mind and that is Mohammed Shami. Being a Test specialist, he hasn’t attracted that much focus from the selectors. And I am not saying this because I saw him up and close in Gujarat Titans.”

A look at Nehra’s 15-player T20 World Cup squad for India:

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda.

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