Twenty20 World Cup | India should pick two wrist-spinners, says Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan suggests India should pick 5 specialist bowlers and 2 wrist-spinners for T20 World Cup squad.

Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan said India must pick five specialist bowlers along with two wrist-spinners in their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be played in the Caribbean and the USA.

With the May 1 deadline for the squad announcement approaching fast, discussions have intensified around the combination of India’s squad for the showpiece event starting on June 2.

“You need five good bowlers — that's a must. What are your wicket-taking options? When you're talking about Ravindra Jadeja at No. 8 and playing as a spin (all-rounder), I would rather have two wrist-spinners playing,” Pathan told Star Sports.

“I would rather have two proper wrist-spinners playing, (Ravi) Bishnoi and Kuldeep (Yadav), in my playing XI. If you look at Bishnoi's numbers, you know, when he played, he was pretty good." Pathan, however, is not in favour of calling up Rajasthan Royals’ Yuzvendra Chahal for the World Cup.

“Yes, we're talking about Chahal right now because of the IPL performances but don't forget the fielding part of it as well. If you have to balance the fielding, you have to balance where a bowler can bowl at the particular area,” he said.

Pathan conceded that Jasprit Bumrah is the only automatic selection among the bowlers.

“There's only one player who you can blindly say (certain for selection) is Bumrah. But apart from Bumrah, you need at least two fast bowlers who can be part of the regular XI,” the former India cricketer said.