The Indian cricket team might have crushed England by 7 wickets in their first warm-up match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 on Monday (October 18) in Dubai, but former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel is worried about Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
On Monday, Team India registered a convincing win over England on the back of KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan’s scintillating fifties after Mohammad Shami's (3/40) stunning bowling efforts in Dubai.
Well, things remain the same for Pandya and Kumar, as the all-rounder didn't bowl a single ball in the warm-up match, whereas Bhuvneshwar yet again failed to make an impression, returning figures of 0/54 runs in his 4 overs.
Reacting to the same, Parthiv Patel said he doesn't think India will play Pandya in the first few matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021, given his inability to bowl at the moment. He also felt Shardul Thakur might replace Bhuvneshwar in India’s line-up.
Parthiv Patel during the mid-innings interval: “I don't think Hardik is going to bowl in the first few games looking at the way Virat Kohli has used only five bowlers.”
He concluded, “Yes, I'm worried about Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He looks in the kind of form which he had in the IPL, where he took just six wickets, but yeah, he looked out of rhythm, almost as if didn't practice. We might just see Shardul Thakur in the next game. It might be a combination that we might see.”
Noteworthy, India will play their next warm-up game against Australia on October 20.
(With India Today Inputs)
