With T20 World Cup squad selection just a week away, questions are already arising as who all will make the cut. Will KL Rahul be picked, does Mohammed Shami has an outside chance? Can Deepak Chahar seal the deal? All these questions persisted even as India bow out of Asia Cup 2022 after losing two games on the trot. Nevertheless, questions remained and the puzzle looks even more complex following India’s exit.

In such a scenario, former India cricketer Ashish Nehra sat down to pick his fifteen-man squad for the upcoming tournament and his choices were not surprising at all. He began by picking the Indian openers and made it clear that he would like to see KL Rahul at the top amidst talks of his slow batting approach in the shortest format. “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.

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India has pacers with discipline and that’s what matters at this stage

The other opener was skipper Rohit Sharma who was followed by Virat Kohli at three. Kohli had a great Asia Cup where he scored two fifties and a century.  He then moved to the middle order, naming Suryakumar Yadav as a sureshot pick. “SKY should be in the eleven because you then have an alternative to Rishabh Pant. You can swap the two—on 4 or 5.”

He then went on to name Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja at 5 and 6, respectively. With Jadeja now nursing a knee injury, his selection looks impossible. Moving onto the spinners he said: Not only Chahal and Jadeja are important, even Ravi Ashwin is also important. Even if he plays, he can make an impact,” he said while picking Chahal and Ashwin in the eleven. He then named his four pacers in Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah.

“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.” Ashish Nehra’s 15-man India Squad for T20 World Cup: 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.