T20 World Cup 2022: 'Already have my playing XI,' says Rohit Sharma ahead of high-octane clash against Pakistan

Indian captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday said he has already decided on Team India's playing XI for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup opener against arch rivals Pakistan. India will begin its campaign against Pakistan, as it did in the previous edition of the event. The high-octane contest between these two sides will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.

Last year, Pakistan defeated India for the first time in World Cup history with a dramatic 10-wicket victory over Virat Kohli and co. So, this time, the Men in Blue will try to even the score with the Men in Green.

India have experimented with over 30 players in the T20I team since the end of the T20 World Cup last year, but during the captain's day media session in Melbourne on Saturday (October 15), Rohit said that he has already settled on the lineup combination for the match against Pakistan. Rohit stated that he does not believe in last-minute decisions since he wants them to be properly prepared.

"I don’t believe in last-minute decisions. We want to keep our boys informed about team selection before so that they can prepare early. I already have my XI for the Pakistan match. Already, those players are informed. I don’t believe in last-minute thing. I want them to prepare well", Rohit said during the conference.

Jasprit Bumrah, India's top pacer, has been ruled out of this year's T20 World Cup owing to a back issue. In his place, the BCCI named Mohammed Shami to the squad on Friday. However, Rohit said that he has not yet seen Shami, implying that the speedster will not be included in that XI.

"I haven’t seen Shami as yet. But I am hearing good things about him. I will gauge him during the practice in Brisbane tomorrow (Sunday)," he added.

Shami, who was a member of India's T20 World Cup team last year, has already arrived in Brisbane, where Team India will play two warm-up matches against Australia and New Zealand on October 17 and 19, respectively.

India squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami

Reserve players: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.

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