Ravi Shastri snubs Virat Kohli as he names two Indian batsmen to watch out for in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri has named two Indian batsmen to watch out for in the T20 World Cup.

Ravi Shastri, the former India coach, has named two India batters who will be crucial for India in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024. However, Shastri’s choices didn’t include legendary Virat Kohli. The tournament will be played in the West Indies and in the USA from June 1-29.

India have been put in Group A of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 along with co-hosts USA, Canada, Ireland and arch-rivals Pakistan. India will play their opening match of the tournament against Ireland on June 5 in New York.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has chosen two players who will be crucial to the team’s title ambitions. And neither of his choices include Virat Kohli nor captain Rohit Sharma, who are probably going to play their final T20 world cup.

The former all-rounder has earmarked Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube to make a difference in India’s World Cup tilt.

Talking about Jaiswal, he made his India T20I debut last year and has 502 runs in just 16 innings, including a century and four fifties. In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Jaiswal has 316 runs for Rajasthan Royals (RR) including a century and a half-century.

“The two gentlemen you’ve got to watch out for, and both are left-handers, both playing their first World Cup. One is [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. We know a lot about him, he did extremely well against England, explosive at the top of the order, left-hander, he’s young, he’s fearless and he’ll play shots,” Ravi Shastri told ICC.

Shastri also believes Shivam Dube can control spin like few others and expects him to be a game-changer in just a few deliveries.

“He’ll park a few balls out of Long Island”- Ravi Shastri on Shivam Dube

Shivam Dube has been in great form for CSK in IPL 2024, hitting 26 sixes in 11 matches. He also had a good tournament in IPL 2023, when his big-hitting was a reason for CSK becoming IPL champions. Dube also made a spirited comeback into the Indian T20I team against Afghanistan early this year and scored 2 consecutive fifties.

“But there’s someone in the middle order, please watch out for [him], because he is explosive, he’s devastating and he’s a match-winner. He hits sixes for fun, and when it comes to spin bowling, he can kill you. He’ll park a few balls out of Long Island into the small island, he’s that kind of a player. He hits it big, he hits it long, and like I said, against spin, he could kill you.

“Even against the fast bowlers, he’s worked out his game, he’s understood the way to play and I think he holds the key at that number five, number six position because if you’re on the doldrums, you want someone to change it in 20-25 balls, he’s the player to go to,” Shastri said.

Dube has struck at a rate of 170.73 in this ongoing IPL season while scoring a boundary in almost four deliveries. Shastri said that Dube’s hitting will be key to unlocking big totals for India in the T20 World Cup.

“His strike rate, which will be close to 200 most of the time, will help India immensely in going forward, getting those 190s, 200s that are needed in big competitions, especially like the [T20] World Cup. So enjoy it, watch out for this left-hander — he’s big, he’s strapping, and he hits a long ball,” Shastri concluded.

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