Exclusive: 'India needs to get settled very quickly before ICC T20 World Cup 2022' - Irfan Pathan

Team India is in its final preparations before the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup, which gets underway in Australia next month. From Wednesday, it takes on South Africa in the three-game Twenty20 International (T20I) series, with the opening match to be played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. Despite having played mostly T20Is this year and staying unbeaten in all bilateral competitions, the Indian side has struggled in getting its combinations right, which is an alarm ahead of the global event. In the same light, legendary former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan spoke to Asianet, who strongly felt that the Men in Blue must settle down soon enough to stand a chance at success Down Under.

"Team needs to get settled very quickly, including the middle-order. It also needs to identify its bowlers and who will be its death bowling option. You have [Jasprit] Bumrah, but you must find a perfect bowler. Is it going to be [Yuzvendra] Chahal, [Deepak] Chahar or Bumrah. Also, who's going to be with Bumrah? Is it Bhuvneshwar Kumar?"

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"In Test cricket, the top-order, middle-order and bowling unit is all settled. Especially in ODIs, the majority of the side is settled. The same thing needs to be done in T20 cricket to win that big tournament [T20WC] since we haven't done that since 2007," added Pathan. He was also asked about senior seamer Mohammed Shami, who is missing out on the Protea T20Is due to COVID.

"It's good to see Mohammed Shami back in the T20 format, and he is a very good bowler. We know how well he bowls with the red ball, but in white-ball cricket, there is only one thing: how would he go about his death bowling? The team management is going to take a look at it. But, there is no doubt about his capability to bowl with the new ball. Good to have an experienced guy and good to have a guy in top form," concluded Pathan. Watch his entire interaction above.