Of late, the selection of the Indian playing XI has become a national problem. Every cricket fanatic and the experts alongside former cricketers suggesting their playing XI for Team India. Meanwhile, in the latest, Harbhajan Singh strongly asks the team to stick with Vijay Shankar ahead of Rishabh Pant.
India are set to bring Mohammed Shami in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has been sidelined with a hamstring issue he had picked up in India’s 89-run win over Pakistan on Sunday. Rishabh Pant was slotted into the squad as he was officially named as the replacement for Shikhar Dhawan who has been ruled out with a thumb fracture.
Meanwhile, the injury to Vijay Shankar in the nets has made headlines. The reports also surfaced that the management doesn’t want to take any risk on Vijay Shankar. However, Harbhajan Singh believes that sticking with the same playing XI is a must for the Indian team.
Don’t disturb the combination – Harbhajan Singh
Further, he went on to add saying that Vijay Shankar had done brilliant enough in the game against Pakistan. Harbhajan wants the Indian team to continue with winning combination for the game against Afghanistan as well.
“I will stick to the same combination. Obviously, Shami will come in for Bhuvi but apart from one, I don’t see anyone else coming in and disturbing your combination,” Harbhajan Singh told India Today from Southampton.
The off-spinner added: “Most definitely (Vijay Shankar ahead of Rishabh Pant). He was your first choice. He has done well in the previous game against Pakistan. You can’t let someone else come and take his place just because he came into the team.”
Well, it would be interesting to see how things would pan out Vijay Shankar. Most probably, the team would stick with the all-rounder, as he can deliver the goods with his bowling as well.
Unless an injury concern, India would most probably play with Vijay Shankar. Even though if Shankar gets an injury, Rishabh Pant needs to outsmart Dinesh Karthik in the selector procedure.