India made wholesale changes to their line-up especially in their bowling. He removed the likes of Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and brought in rookies like Umran Malik, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi for the third T20I match against England at Trent Bridge. While it left India’s bowling attack weak on paper, it excited some Indian fans who wanted to see Umran Malik in action against the likes of Jos Buttler and Jason Roy. the former India Fast bowler Zaheer Khan was among them and said that Malik should stick to his strength.
“You have to use the forces that put you in the first place here. Everyone notices him (Umran Malik) because he was working hard and bowling fast. And he was rushing the batsmen, so Have to live with it. Look at these three stumps, run as hard as you can, bowl as hard as you can,” said Zaheer when asked about tipping the young pacer.
Meanwhile, he said that Bhuvneshwar Kumar should have played as he was in good form in the first two matches. His classic in-swing delivery to Jos Buttler had already gone viral on social media.
“I still felt Bhuvneshwar Kumar could have continued as he was in a good rhythm. He is a player who could not perform consistently due to injury. He hasn’t been playing consistently so the game time could have been bigger for him.”
Apart from this, former England captain Michael Vaughan also criticized the Indian team management for making so many changes. He said that players like Bhuvi and Hardik Pandya should have played as they were in good form.
“Jason Roy and Jos Buttler can breathe easy when they come out to bat as they don’t need to face Bhuvneshwar Kumar. I’m surprised they went through with so many changes. From a player’s point of view you want to play, you want to be in form. Bhuvi is in form, Hardik is in form. If Hardik has any problem with his body, then it is a different matter. I would never do that. I am really looking forward to Umran Malik but I really don’t like all this tinkering in the modern game,” he told Cricbuzz.
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