T20 World Cup 2022 | Ashish Nehra announces his own 15-member India squad, excludes Mohammed Shami

With T20 World Cup coming up next month, the selection committee is expected to officially announce the squad on September 16. The Asia Cup 2022 have given the selection committee plenty to think about and so the selection call might get tough for them. Fans and experts have started predicting their own playing XI and Ashish Nehra has also revealed his 15-member team for the tournament. 

Nehra has excluded Mohammed Shami from the squad going for a pace battery comprising Jasprit Bumrah. Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has opined that Shami has made his reputation as a Test specialist and so was overlooked by selectors in recent times. 

“One name, however, comes to 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,” Nehra stated.

There has been also a discussion around KL Rahul’s place in the team as he has been going through a poor run of form since his return from injury. Also, Rahul’s strike rate has come under scrutiny. However, Nehra has backed Rahul saying he will do well in upcoming games. 

"We still have a long way to go as far as the T20 World Cup is concerned, so I think we will see a lot from KL Rahul in the next six games,” he said when asked to justify his selection.

“SKY should be in the eleven because you then have an alternative to Rishabh Pant. You can swap the two—on 4 or 5.”

Ashish Nehra's India's 15-man squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin,  Yuzvendra Chahal, Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda.