The selection of only four pacers in India's T20 World Cup roster, which will be played in Australia from October 16 to November 13, has drawn criticism from former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra.
The 15-member squad that was announced on Monday, September 12, includes the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshal Patel as the specialist pacers.
Chopra voiced his reservation on Harshal Patel's selection in the T20 World Cup team, saying that the latter has not won many games for India with the ball.
He further raised concern over Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness and said that the selectors have put a lot of faith in him.
“You have invested a lot in the faith that Bumrah will be back to prime fitness, not only fitness but also form and the same is true for Harshal Patel. I have a small reservation about Harshal - the sample size of match-winning performances is not there in international cricket," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
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Given that Bumrah and Harshal are just coming out of injuries that kept them out of action for several months, Chopra believed that the team could have added another pacer to the team.
“I am not saying that you shouldn’t have kept Bumrah or Harshal, you didn’t have too many options, but you could have kept one more fast bowler as part of this team because currently, we are hoping that both will return fit and in form," he added.
The former cricketer further remarked that the Indian team might just be playing a gamble by prematurely picking Arshdeep Singh as the specialist death-over bowler.
“Arshdeep Singh hasn’t done anything special with the new ball till now. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has disappointed a little with the old ball. So you have very simple options - Bhuvi with the new ball, Arsh with the old ball. You are expecting that Arshdeep Singh can be your gun death bowler. In my opinion, he is still not one. You have just one gun death bowler - that’s Jasprit Bumrah. You have one new-ball bowler - that’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar. You are taking a slight chance with the other two," he said.
In their World Cup opener, the Men in Blue will take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
(NEWS18 INPUTS)
