No Virat Kohli, KL Rahul as Gautam Gambhir names India’s top 3 picks for upcoming T20 World Cup

Team India have already begun their preparations for ‘Mission Melbourne’ as they look to build steam ahead of what promises to be an epic T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year. While there are still a good four months remaining in the tournament, all the participating teams have already started to plan for the upcoming World Cup. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have decided to rest many senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, and in their place young players have been given an opportunity for India’s ongoing T20I series versus South Africa. 

In the meantime, as the permutation and combinations slowly become clear in the lead-up to the World Cup, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has raised eyebrows with his selection for India’s top three players at the T20 World Cup 2022. 

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Gambhir decided to look beyond the likes of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli while choosing Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan as India’s openers at the T20 World Cup, while he also opted for Suryakumar Yadav at number 3. 

Speaking on Star Sports, Gambhir said, “Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma to open, and Suryakumar Yadav at number 3 for me.”

This might come as a surprise to many cricket fans, particularly because KL Rahul finished among the top scorers in IPL 2022, and he was the captain of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the team which had Gambhir as its mentor. 

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While Virat Kohli’s exclusion also raises eyebrows, the 33-year-old’s struggles with the bat of late have been there for all to see, thus Gambhir understandably decided to leave him out of his top three. 

With Kohli and Rohit rested, KL Rahul was chosen as India’s captain for the South Africa series, however, he has been ruled out of the entire series due to an injury, as Rishabh Pant took over the charge from Rahul, but India currently trail the series 0-2.