BENGALURU: In a World Cup year, the ongoing T20I series featuring India and
Afghanistan
has not garnered the kind of attention it ought to. On Wednesday, the Men in Blue will be playing their final T20I game before they travel to the US and Caribbean for the ICC event in June.
The talking point of this three-match series has been the return of
Virat Kohli
and
Rohit Sharma
after a gap of 14 months in T20 Internationals, pointing towards their possible inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad.
In all this, it is Mumbai allrounder Shivam Dube who has grabbed the spotlight with back-to-back unbeaten half-centuries for a team which is not at full strength. Some of the players are injured while key pacers have been rested.
With his all-round show and six-hitting abilities, Dube has made a strong claim for himself for a World Cup berth. As a result, India’s No.1 allrounder Hardik Pandya has not been missed much, especially with the bat. But then, players like Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has made the opening slot his own, will be keen to deliver in the final T20I and continue the momentum in the IPL.
The same can be said for players like Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel, with the latter having been brilliant in the first two games, scalping four with an economy of five per over, among others. It is a no-brainer that the performances in the cash-rich league, just before the T20 World Cup, could play a huge role in cementing players’ place in the side.
With India having already sealed the series with two wins, the final match is a dead rubber. It thus opens a window of opportunity for the team management to experiment with team combinations.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and speedster Avesh Khan have not played a single game in the series, and the trio will be hoping to get a crack on Wednesday. Even Rinku hasn’t got much time in the middle.
Irrespective of the team composition, skipper Rohit, who has failed to get off the mark in the series, will be eager to strike form at the top of the order. The opener, who took an aggressive route in the 50-over World Cup, is expected to play a similar brand of cricket, and get in tune with the fearless approach of the young Indian team in the shortest format.
Likewise, Kohli, who looked good in the last match with a 16-ball 29, will be aiming to score big, and at a quicker strike rate. On the other hand, Afghanistan, who have not fired as a unit in the series need their batters — including Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran and Gulbadin Naib — to make their presence felt while bowlers like Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Naveen Ul-Haq have to execute their plans against a strong Indian batting lineup.
English (US) ·