You may pick three fast bowlers – Sunil Gavaskar selects India’s playing XI for World Cup 2023 opener against Australia

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has picked India’s playing XI for the World Cup 2023 opening match against Australia. Gavaskar feels India could pick three fast bowlers in their final XI. India recently won the first two ODIs against Australia convincingly and they will be looking to replicate the same.

The hosts won the first game by five wickets whereas the Men in Blue won the second ODI by 99 runs (DLS method). Gavaskar picked three pacers – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah as the fast bowlers in the playing XI.

“You may pick three fast bowlers – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. If they want to go with two seamers since they already have Hardik Pandya, then an extra spinner can be included. You can have Ashwin in the eleven,” said Gavaskar while talking to Star Sports.

“In any team, the top three batters are quite important. A good start from the openers helps the others that follow to play freely. The contribution from the opening pair is going to be crucial,” he added.

Sunil Gavaskar’s Team India playing XI vs Australia:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.

On the other hand, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan wants India to go with five bowlers in the opening clash against the Aussies.

“I agree with the top-seven. (But) I want the Indian team to go with proper five bowlers. You have Hardik as sixth bowler but you should go with bowlers having wicket-taking abilities. The pitches you will get now, there’s a possibility of dew so then you need to have a solid bowling throughout the world cup,” said Pathan on Star Sports.

“So go with main bowlers be it three fast bowlers that include Siraj, Shami, and Bumrah. If you want someone to team up with Kuldeep Yadav, then go with a proper bowler in Jadeja if it’s on a turning track. Go with proper bowlers who only think about wickets. Your top-7 batters can take care of the runs,” added Pathan.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 8th October.

India’s final World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.