Sorting out the bowling options could pose a headache for the India selectors

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Sorting out the bowling options could pose a headache for the India selectors - CricBlogger

What’s cooking boys? Rohit with Dravid

Batting wise, Team India is quite sorted for the forthcoming T20 World Cup. With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma all set to open the innings, which the former couldn’t do because of KL Rahul at the top of the order, the middle-order perhaps begins with Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh and ends with Ravindra Jadeja. The main concern of Ajit Agarkar & Co would be to pick the bowlers for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and America. With a slot for another wicket-keeper-cum-batter like Sanju Samson and a spare opener in Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shubman Gill, six more slots are open for bowlers.

Whether the selectors will opt for three spinners and pacers each and expect Hardik to bowl with full fitness as the fourth pacer in the squad or will they opt for four fast bowlers and four spinners along with Jadeja being the fifth in the squad remains to be seen. It appears that Jasprit Bumrah’s new ball partner will be Arshdeep Singh. With the West Indies pitches acting up over the years and drop-in pitches in the US expected again to be on the slower side, slow bowlers could do a lot more damage than genuine fast bowlers. Therefore, a third pacer could be the one with more skills and on that count, Mukesh Kumar isn’t a bad choice. A slow bowler and batting all-rounder Shivam Dube could also walk into the team as a back-up for Hardik if the need arises.

If there is a slot for three spinners apart from Jadeja because of the slowness of the track – the two obvious ones will be Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav while the only remaining slot could go to a finger spinner.

That means, India might pick 7 batters, 2 all-rounders and six bowlers. If Hardik is bowling regularly with Jadeja, which the selectors are looking at, India would have eight bowlers in total in the competition. After all, it is the batters who win games while the bowlers win tournaments.

Wonder, where is Shivam Dube going to fit into this 15-member squad? Perhaps in place of a spinner or a fast bowler. Picking Dube in place of Rinku won’t look good and wise!