India’s quest to 2020 T20 World Cup is not on the right path as they managed to draw a T20 series against an inexperienced South Africa in September and it got worse after the men in blue lost the first of the three match series against Bangladesh on Sunday.
Indian batters looked off colour and a failure from the top order again exposed the middle order which failed to fire. The inexperienced bowling line up contained the batsman for a shorter while but inability to pick wickets costed heavily.
Now the remaining two T20’s will be do or die encounter for Indian team and they have to come all guns blazing to eke out positive results. In order to win, these two changes can prove beneficial.
2- Sanju Samson in for Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant has been a find of IPL but the Delhi batsman has failed to score on a consistent basis and has developed the habit of throwing his wicket away. In the first T20, he didn’t play his natural game and looked for singles and doubles to get himself set. During the final flourish, he again failed after mistiming a shot and ended up getting caught by long on fielder.
There is lot of pressure on him to play the devastating innings he is known for but the pressure might be a bigger player than him. However, experimenting at this stage can be hazardous for India and they might want to pick a more fancied Sanju Samson in his place.
Samson is fresh from a double hundred against Goa in Vijay Hazare trophy and his current form can be a crucial factor for Team India. He is a much better keeper than Pant and can also save some runs and hung on to some tough catches to change the complexion of the game.
Replacing Samson with Pant can be a wake up call for the Delhi youngster and it may benefit his performance in the future.
1- Shardul Thakur for Khaleel Ahmed
Khaleel set it up nicely for India when he dismissed a set Soumya Sarkar in the 17th over but then conceding four boundaries in the 19th over didn’t help his cause and India ended up on the losing side. Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar are best suited to bowl in the powerplay overs and needing a good death overs specialist alongside Deepak Chahar is the need of the four for India.
Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur can do the job with his vast experience. Thakur can executes yorker with sheer perfection that is enough to cause havoc for the Bangladeshi batsman. Bringing Thakur can be a tactical move as the Bangladeshi batsman didn’t face any problem in facing Khaleel.
