Former Indian veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh has picked India’s playing XI for the high-octane clash against Pakistan, which will be played at the iconic MCG on Sunday. Singh picked Dinesh Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant in the final XI.

Furthermore, there was no place for Harshal Patel, Deepak Hooda, and Ravichandran Ashwin in Harbhajan’s team.

Harbhajan picked ​​five batters, one all-rounder, two spinners, and three pacers in his team for the big match against the arch-rivals.

“I feel the team is straightforward. I feel Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Axar Patel will be in the team. Yuzi Chahal will play along with them. After that Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami,” Harbhajan Singh told Star Sports.

“This is my choice. Harshal Patel might not get a chance. I feel Deepak Hooda and R Ashwin will not get a chance in the first few games. I am seeing this as the starting XI,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami is raring to go after recovering from Covid-19. Shami is expected to play a huge role and he scalped three wickets in the warm-up match against Australia. He conceded only four runs when he was defending 11 runs in the final over against the hosts.

“Shami getting fit is a good sign for the Indian team. The style of bowler he is, experience matter a lot on the big stage. Shami’s role becomes even bigger with Bumrah not being there. We hope that he lives up to those expectations,” he said.

Harbhajan feels Axar Patel might pip Ravichandran Ashwin in the starting XI because of his batting skills.

“I don’t think R Ashwin will get a chance because the batting looks slightly long with Axar Patel’s presence. If Axar Patel doesn’t play, you cannot depend so much on R Ashwin’s batting in T20Is, he is good in the longest format,” he added.

India and Pakistan take on each other on Sunday at the MCG.