Brad Hogg feels one particular batsman is a must-play for India in the T20I against England. Virat Kohli may have revealed India’s opening pair for the first T20I against England on the match eve but barring KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma being the two certain players in the team line-up, there are several slots vacant for which there is expected to be a toss-up between two or more players.
Brad Hogg Reckons Suryakumar Yadav Should Play Since He’s An Aggressive Batsman And Is Hard To Bowl To
There has been a bit of noise surrounding keeper Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, who have earned their maiden T20I call-ups for India, but which player gets the nod in the middle order remains to be seen.
Ishan Kishan and Suryakumzar Yadav are likely to battle it out for the No. 4 slot, alongside Shreyas Iyer. India is likely to go with one of these three for the position, but had it been up to Brad Hogg, the place should belong to Suryakumar Yadav.
“Suryakumar Yadav… he’s got to play in there because he’s an aggressive batsman, plays 360 degrees and is hard to bowl to,” Brad Hogg said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Both Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson were shown the door after repeated failures in the 19 man T20I squad against England in 5 T20Is.
Suryakumar Yadav scored 480 runs in 16 games averaging 40 in IPL 2020 which was hailed by fans and he felt disappointed when his name wasn’t in the Australian tour’s limited-overs squad. He also notched up 424 runs and 512 runs in the previous two editions.
Suryakumar Yadav has been in stellar form too in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021. The Mumbaikar has smashed 332 runs in the five matches he has played, doing so at an excellent average of 66.40 and an outstanding strike rate of 151.59.
Brad Hogg Would Play Axar Patel For His Height And Success In Test Series
Another area India would want to get their permutations and combinations right is their bowling line-up. The Ahmedabad pitch was useful for spinners as witnessed in the Test series, but there is doubt whether India will go ahead with three spinners.
“Will India go with Sundar and Chahal? Those two don’t have a taller height like Ashwin or Axar Patel. So will India go with two of those particular bowlers or three spinners? I would go with Axar Patel because he’s got the height,” Brad Hogg said.
“The English batsmen previous weren’t prepared to sweep him. So Patel ‘s got to play. Will they go with three spinners and have Hardik Pandya as the third spinner… that will be the big question.”
The spinner Axar Patel debuted in the preceding Test series against England and was the 2nd highest wicket-taker with 27 wickets in only 3 Tests. Yuzvendra Chahal may come into the scene if India opts for more spin options. Shardul Thakur or Navdeep Saini is likely to play the role of the third seamer if the hosts opt for a three-pronged pace attack.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has played the last Test against South Africa in 2018 while his last ODI and T20I came in 2019. He has been named in the 5 T20Is and will be raring to go after a long injury layoff.
India’s Probable XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal
India: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy (doubtful for the entire series), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan (doubtful for the first T20I), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Rahul Chahar.