Wasim Jaffer leaves out Rishabh Pant from his Indian playing XI for 1st T20I vs Australia

Former cricketer Wasim Jaffer left out wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant from his Indian playing XI for the first T20I against Australia. The three-match series will get underway on Tuesday, September 20, in Mohali.

After a Super 4 exit from the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022, the Men in Blue will be keen to return to get in the groove with only a few weeks to go for the ICC T20 World Cup. India's think tank will hope to finalize their combinations in the upcoming games ahead of the global T20 event in Australia.

On the eve of the series opener, Jaffer picked his preferred playing XI. Sharing his team on Twitter, the former Mumbai cricketer wrote:

"My team for tomorrow: 1. KL, 2. Rohit, 3. VK, 4. SKY, 5. Hardik, 6. DK (wk), 7. Axar, 8. Harshal, 9. Bhuvi, 10. Bumrah, 11. Chahal. What's yours? #INDvAUS."

Jaffer picked Dinesh Karthik ahead of Pant, who has gone through a lean patch with the bat. The veteran Tamil Nadu cricketer was also preferred ahead of the youngster in India's Asia Cup 2022 opener against arch-rivals Pakistan.

The former cricketer also named Harshal Patel ahead of Arshdeep Singh, who was influential in the death overs during the continental tournament. Harshal, who is returning from an injury, will look to get his rhythm back ahead of the T20 World Cup. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were the other two pacers in the starting XI.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel were picked as the spinners ahead of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

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India vs Australia 2022 - Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Umesh Yadav.

Australia: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade (wk), and Adam Zampa.