The manner in which the Indian team had to face defeat after a strong start in the last match of the five-match Test series against England, the morale of the players was completely down, but the Indian team has to be praised for the way the players have come back in the first match of the T20 series. It is commendable. Hardik Pandya will also have to be praised for this. He has raised hopes for India ahead of the T20 World Cup by performing brilliantly with both the ball and the bat.
By the way, apart from Hardik, the rest of the bowlers of Team India also performed well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh in the opening over itself won everyone’s heart with their presence. Bhuvneshwar then took the wicket of Butler with brilliant swing bowling. From this point of view, for India, this is a very good opportunity for the team to prepare before the T20 World Cup, because if India has to go into the World Cup with similar bowling performance and spirit, then such preparations have to be continued. Apart from this, Deepak Hooda and Suryakumar Yadav have given India a lot of strength in the middle order in batting. In this, especially Suryakumar Yadav, he has shown his unique style of batting. I think this batsman has cemented his place in the T20 World Cup. He has a variety of shots and the ability to play shots around the wicket. At the same time, the way Deepak Hooda batted fearlessly while presenting his claim also raises hopes. The best thing about him is that he maintains a strike rate of above 150 at the top of the order. He batted brilliantly in both the matches against Ireland and scored a century in the second match to raise hopes for the future. It’s nice to see him play like this because in T20 cricket this kind of batting is required.
With this quality of performance, selectors are going to face difficult time as they have to decide whether to retain senior players in the team or these young players should be given chance who are showing great intent on the field. This can be considered as a good indication for the team ahead of T20 World Cup.
The author is a Dronacharya Award winner apart from being the coach of Virat Kohli