India pacer Ishant Sharma on Friday (8th July) said that if Virat Kohli is available he will replace Deepak Hooda in the Indian playing XI for the remaining two T20Is against England. 

The second game between England and India is slated to take on Saturday (8th July) in Birmingham. The visitors fielded a second-string side in the first game as senior players, who played the Test match, were rested. 

Now with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah all set to return to the team, there are many speculations about what XI will India field in the second game. 

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Being the senior players, it is expected that Kohli, Pant, Jadeja and Bumrah will walk straight into the XI. But with the performances that Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik and Akshar Patel have put up, it’ll be a massive toss-up between the seniors and youngsters. 

Speaking on Jatin Sapru’s YouTube channel, Ishant Sharma said that if Virat Kohli is available he’ll replace Deepak Hooda. 

"I think it will be hard on Deepak Hooda because Virat Kohli will come in at No.3. It is something that no matter how much you try to tell yourself, the truth is that if Kohli is available, he will play," Ishant Sharma said. 

Ishant feels that Ravindra Jadeja will replace Akshar Patel in the side as he can hit the ball cleanly. 

“Ravindra Jadeja should come in for Akshar Patel. He can hit the ball just like Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik,” he said. 

Ishant believes that Suryakumar Yadav will get the nod ahead of Shreyas Iyer at No.4 in the remaining two T20Is. 

"I think Suryakumar Yadav will play both of the remaining matches at No. 4 ahead of Shreyas Iyer. They might rotate the five incoming players because these are back-to-back matches,” he said.