Team of the tournament
There were a lot of players who did well in the tournament and deserved to get into the team. The likes of Chattisgarh pacer Pankaj Rao, Jharkhand’s Saurabh Tiwary, Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur, Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar. Bengal’s Pragyan Ojha etc. were considered. 15 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 13 and economy of 3.7 is not at all bad and this makes Pankaj Rao as the 12th man of this team.
The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan were not even considered for selection. With MS Dhoni finding a place in the team, there shouldn’t any second thought on who the captain is. Dhoni will also don the wicketkeeper’s gloves in the team ahead of Dinesh Karthik.
Extra cover: MS Dhoni loses calm after Jharkhand’s exit from Vijay Hazare Trophy
Alongside four frontline bowlers and one all-rounder, the likes of Kedar Jadhav and Manoj Tiwary can give the skipper some overs when needed.
The playing XI:
Abhimanyu Easwaran
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Krunal Pandya
Dinesh Karthik
MS Dhoni
Kedar Jadhav
Manoj Tiwary
Aswin Crist
Kushang Patel
Shahbaz Nadeem
Jasprit Bumrah
