Ahead of India’s T20 World Cup opener, former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar shared his playing XI for Virat Kohli’s side on social media platform Koo. Team India face Pakistan on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium in a Super 12 fixture and will be hoping to seal a win. Manjrekar picked Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakaravarthy over the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin. The 56-year-old also chose Shardul Thakur at the expense of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and there was no place for Ishan Kishan in his team.

Other than Chakaravarthy and Shardul, Manjrekar picked Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.

“Rohit Virat Rahul Surya Hardik Pant Jadeja Shardul Shami Bumrah Varun. My India playing XI for tonight. #IndvPak #T20WORLDCUP”, Manjrekar posted.

Led by Kohli, India will be aiming to reach the knockout stages and try to win their second T20 World Cup title after having won the inaugural edition in 2007.

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India will gain confidence from history ahead of their opener as they haven’t yet lost a game against Pakistan in a World Cup meeting. They have beaten Pakistan seven out of seven times in ODI World Cup fixtures and five out of five times in T20 World Cup clashes.

One of India’s most popular wins in the T20 format against Pakistan came in the tournament’s inaugural edition final in 2007 when MS Dhoni’s side won by five runs.