Sunil Gavaskar suggested promoting Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant in the batting order. After IPL 2022, focus now shifts to national duty with India set to play a five-match T20I series against South Africa at home starting June 9. And ahead of the series, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has an “explosive” suggestion for India head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma.
The IPL 2022 is over with Gujarat Titans emerging as the champions of the 15th season. Focus now shifts to national duty with India set to play a five-match T20I series against South Africa at home starting June 9. The series will mark the beginning of the second half of India’s preparation for the 2022 T20I World Cup later in October.
Sunil Gavaskar Wants To See Hardik Pandya And Rishabh Pant At No 5 And 6 As They Can Score 100-120 Runs In The Last 6 Overs
The series will mark the return of Hardik Pandya to the Indian team for the first time since the 2021 T20 World Cup following which he was rehabilitating from his back injury. However, following his impressive performance as an all-rounder in the IPL 2022, the selectors rewarded him with an India call-up.
Hailing his performance in the tournament, where Hardik Pandya had led Gujarat to title victory, Sunil Gavaskar said that if Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant can bat at No.5 and 6 for India, the team will have the ability to score almost 120 runs in just 6 overs.
“I think he’ll probably be slotted at five or six. Just imagine, if India has a Hardik Pandya and a Rishabh Pant at five or six. They can probably swap around a little bit — that is going to be some explosive combination from the 14th to the 20th over. In six overs, you can probably expect even may be 100-120 runs,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
“They are capable of doing that. So, that’s going to be an exciting aspect. That’s something I’m really looking forward to — Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya batting at five or six,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
Hardik Pandya scored 487 runs in IPL 2022 at an average of 44.27 and a strike rate of 131.27. He also picked eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.28. Rishabh Pant, who was named DC’ skipper ahead of the IPL 2021 and was retained ahead of the TATA IPL 2022 scored 340 runs in IPL 2022 playing 14 games averaging a decent 30.91 at an impressive strike rate of 151.79.
Umran Malik And Arshdeep Singh Were Selected In Indian T20I Squad For The 1st Time Against Proteas
The Indian cricket team will assemble in New Delhi on June 5 ahead of the five-match T20 series against South Africa. There will be no crowd restrictions and there will be no bio-bubble for the series, though players will be tested regularly for COVID-19. The other venues are Cuttack (June 12), Visakhapatnam (June 14), Rajkot (June 17), and Bengaluru (June 19).
In the pace department, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have been included for the first time in the Indian squad. Sunrisers Hyderabad pace sensation Umran Malik has been one of the finds of the 15th season of the cash-rich league. He has impressed the selectors not just with his raw pace, clocking consistently over 150 kph, but also with his wicket-taking abilities.
In 14 games this season, he has picked 22 wickets for SRH at a strike rate of just 13.57 and an economy rate of 9.03. Umran Malik, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s leading wicket-taker this season had picked 22 scalps from 14 IPL 2022 games averaging an impressive 20.18 with a best of 5/25.
Arshdeep Singh, who picked 10 wickets for Punjab Kings in 14 matches, at an average of 38.50 and an economy of 7.7 in the ongoing IPL 2022, earned accolades for bowling well in the crucial slog overs. His yorkers in the death overs have been the highlight of his spells and have helped propel him into the Indian team.
T20I Squad – KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik