Cricket News

‘I still feel you could have played….’ – Gautam Gambhir unhappy with India’s team selection

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir feels that the Indian team is not going to make any changes in their playing XI for the second T20I against South Africa. In the series opener, team management picked Karthik and benched Deepak Hooda to bat in the middle order. However, the 36-year-old could play only two balls in the last over of the first inning.

Gambhir has talked about the Indian team’s combination for the further matches in the series. He stated that they should go with the same plan for the next few matches in the series. He also backed the Dinesh Karthik and came up with a stand that management should show some belief in Karthik over Hooda.

I don’t think any changes are required in the next matches – Gambhir

“Now that you have played Dinesh Karthik, you will play him. I still feel you could have played Deepak Hooda, the form he was in and he is a youngster. But in the next matches, I don’t think any changes are required to be done unless the wicket is extremely dry,” Gambhir was quoted as saying in a show at Star Sports.

The former opener also said that India should go with Ravi Bishnoi in the playing XI replacing him against a seamer. Gambhir said this while considering and talking about the spin-friendly turf.

“In that case, you can probably sit out a seamer and play the leg-spinner in Bishnoi and Hardik can be your third seamer. You will have two wrist-spinners as attacking options but if the ground is small and there is not much spin in the wicket, then you will probably see the same team,” Gambhir added later.

Speaking about the first game, India played very well in the first innings. Ishan Kishan scored a blistering knock of 76 runs off just 48 balls. The youngster’s inning was followed by handy cameos from India’s middle-order. But eventually, India lost this match by seven wickets to South Africa, thanks to the amazing knock from David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen. They built an unbeaten partnership of 131 runs for the fourth wicket.