India will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic MCG on October 23.
Ahead of the marquee event, the Men in Blue suffered a huge blow as ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah got ruled out of the tournament with a back injury and veteran fast bowler Mohammad Shami was named his replacement.
India’s pace attack now features Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Shami and Harshal Patel alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
With one week to go for India’s opening match, former India opener Robin Uthappa has said that young Arshdeep will be his automatic pick considering the different dimension he adds with his left-arm bowling. He left out Harshal from his playing XI.
“I think he (Arshdeep) walks into the setup," Uthappa said on ESPNcricinfo. “It also depends upon how many fast bowlers you go with because you also have Hardik Pandya there. I would ideally want to go with a left-arm fast bowler because that change of angle makes a huge difference and Arshdeep is also bowling exceptionally well with the new ball. I would go with Arshdeep Singh, Shami, Bhuvi."
Shami was initially named in the standby list but has now been drafted to the main squad ahead of the tournament. While Shami hasn’t played a T20I since the world cup last year, he hasn’t played any competitive match since July this year.
When asked whether Shami will be a bit rusty, Uthappa said: “Not necessarily because I think he will get a couple of warm-up games before the tournament itself begins."
He added, “So, I think for someone with his experience, it’s about muscle memory. I feel once he gets back, he will have a little bit of clarity, he will sit down with the bowling staff as well and figure out how he wants to go about his business."
According to Uthappa, Shami knows what to do and will try to ‘keep things simple’.
“I don’t think there will be a lack of clarity. In fact, it’ll be simpler for someone like him because he knows and understands there won’t be too much time. So, he won’t try too many things and keep things simple. You want to keep things simple in a big tournament like that," he stated.