Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir had decided to make two changes in India’s Playing XI before the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup. Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy have been rested against Oman, as the Men in Blue try to play with their combination before facing the likes of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Pacers brought in for Abu Dhabi pitch
Resting Bumrah makes absolute sense, since managing his workload is paramount. The ace pacer might still be in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans for the West Indies Test series, and he might even skip a few matches in the Asia Cup. As for Chakaravarthy, his dropping looks tactical.
Abu Dhabi is a ground where pacers have thrived more when compared to Dubai. Kuldeep Yadav has been simply incredible, so Chakaravarthy has to make way for Harshit Rana while Arshdeep replaces Bumrah.
Sanju Samson to bat in the top order?
A peculiar thing can be noticed in India’s team sheet. Sanju Samson, who hasn’t batted in the Asia Cup yet, has been slotted at number three. It’s the position that has been held by Tilak Varma for the last 12 months or so, but Suryakumar himself has played there to maintain the righty-lefty combination.
But since Samson hasn’t got game time, Tilak has been pushed down to number five. Team India clearly wants all of their batters to enter the Super Four, with at least one innings under their belt. Perhaps, we’ll see Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya being promoted as well.
India’s Playing XI vs Oman
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
Bench: Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh
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