With the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 taking place later this year in India, former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg has named his three best must-have fast-bowling options for the hosts Team India for the showpiece event to be held in October-November 2021.
The recently-concluded five-match T20I series between India and England saw the emergence of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Hardik Pandya’s return to bowling full-time for India apart from captain Virat Kohli's possible role as India opener going forward.
While Team India has plenty of options in both the batting and bowling department, throwing the hosts with a lot of permutations and combinations to dwell over, to help in the case, the former Australian spinner has come out with a couple of suggestions for the Men in Blue for the T20 World Cup 2021.
The Aussie further said that Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar must be in India’s T20 World Cup while saying if the wickets for the showpiece are slower then T Natarajan should be the third pace option, but the tracks are faster then he would go with Mohammad Shami as the third option.
Hogg said on his YouTube channel on Monday: “You definitely need them there – Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar. It depends on what type of wickets it is. If it's a slower wicket, I might go with Natarajan, but if it's a quicker wicket, I would go with Shami.”
He further explained, “But just remember, in those final overs, Shami gets a lot of reverse swing as well so I'd be very tempted to stick with the older brigade and have Natarajan as your back-up bowler. So for me, if I'm going into the T20 World Cup, I'm going with Bhuvi, Bumrah, and Shami.”
The former cricketer also said Rishabh Pant should be India's batsman at no. 4 batsmen for the T20 World Cup 2021 while Suryakumar Yadav at No.4 if the Kohli and Rohit Sharma are opening for India in the ICC event.
Hogg further explained, “Rishabh batting at No. 4… always. I think so because if you're going to open with Rohit and Kohli and then have Suryakumar coming at 3, I think it will be a wise option to have the left-hander coming in at No. 4 just to break the lines and lengths of the bowling.”
He signed off by saying, “Also, because Pant is very dominant against spin and spinners normally come in those middle overs and are operating around the 10-12 over the mark. That’s probably the area he’s most likely to come in. For me, Pant should always be out at No. 4 but if they lose two early wickets, I’d like to see Iyer come in.”
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
