T20 World Cup 2022: Mohammad Azharuddin wants Mohammed Shami and Shreyas Iyer

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 13, Sep 2022, 11:15 am IST | UPDATED: 15, Sep 2022, 16:24 pm IST

New Delhi: Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin wasn’t completely satisfied with India’s final 15 for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 announced by the BCCI national selectors on Monday (September 12). Pace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, who have recovered from injury, have been recalled for the T20 World Cup which will take place in Australia.

Surprised at the omission of Shreyas Iyer and Md. Shami from the main squad. Shreyas Iyer instead of Deepak Hooda and Md. Shami in the place of Harshal Patel would be my choice,” Azharuddin wrote in his tweet sharing his opinion on the squad.

India had to make some tough calls for the team, based on the players’ performances in recent times in the shortest format of the game, and the management put forth a strong squad in place. However, Azharuddin’s tweet was not well received by the Indian cricket fans on social media.

Some fans objected at Shami’s expensive economy rate – 9.54 runs per over after 17 T20I matches and was one of India’s most expensive bowlers in the T20 World Cup 2021, where India failed to reach the semifinals.

Other fans questioned whether Azhar knew anything about the T20 format and Iyer’s struggles with the short ball and the fact that the tournament is being played in Australia – known for hard and bouncy pitches.

Shami was back in the T20 scheme of things as he has been picked for the T20 series versus Australia and South Africa prior to the big event and is also among the four stand-bys who will travel Down Under. The other three reserve players are Shreyas Iyer, Bishnoi and seamer Deepak Chahar.

Shami wasn’t directly picked for the T20 World Cup as he hasn’t played any cricket after England series and the upcoming six T20Is will give Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma chance to check out his rhythm and bowling at the death. Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be reporting to the NCA for workload management and conditioning work during the course of the home series against Australia and South Africa.

Bhuvneshwar will miss the South Africa series while Hardik and Arshdeep will skip the Australia series beginning September 20.