Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer opines that the team and fans can witness the best of star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant at the top order and revealed his top five for the T20Is. He revealed his order of top five batters in the team as KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. "I still think opening the inns is where we could see the best of Pant in T20. Provided Rohit is ok to bat @ 4. MS took a punt on Rohit before CT in 2013, and the rest is history. Time for Rohit to take a punt on Pant. KL, Pant, VK, Rohit, Sky would be my top five. #INDvAUS #T20WC," tweeted Jaffer.



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Pant has batted in the top order twice in T20I cricket and has scored a total of 27 runs at an average of 13.50 and the best score of 26. On the other hand, Rohit has batted fourth on eight occasions in T20I cricket. In these, he has scored 188 runs at an average of 31.33. His best individual score in this position in 79* and two fifties have come out of his bat while batting on number four. Also, Suryakumar Yadav has batted at number five on three occasions in the shorter format of the game. He has scored 117 runs at this position at an average of 58.50, with a best score of 65.


The All-India Senior Selection Committee met on Monday to pick India's squads for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia and for the T20I series against Australia and South Africa at home.


Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel have made their return to the squad for the World Cup and for Australia and South Africa series. Pacers Mohammed Shami and Deepak Chahar have been included in the squad for T20 World Cup as standby players and also feature in squads for the two home series. ICC T20 World Cup will take place this year from October 16 to November 13. Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be reporting to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for conditioning-related work during the course of the home series against Australia and South Africa.


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


Standby players - Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.


India Squad for Australia T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd. Shami, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.


India squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Shami, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.


India's home series against Australia consisting of three T20Is will take place from September 20 to September 25. The home series against South Africa comprises three T20Is and an equal number of ODIs and will be played from September 28 to October 11. The team for ODIs against Proteas has not been announced yet.