India is all-set to lock horns with South Africa in the first T20I tonight at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
The hosts faced a big blow on Wednesday with skipper Kl Rahul ruled out of the entire series due to an injury. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was also ruled out.
Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant was named as the new captain while Hardik Pandya as his deputy. So, now the major question being asked is: who will make it to India’s first XI tonight?
While most of the spots are certain, there are a few questions that are to be answered. One is whether pace sensation Umran Malik will make his debut tonight or not?
Coach Rahul Dravid just a few days back hinted that the youngster would need to wait for his opportunity.
“But it is brilliant in terms of watching Umran in the nets, you can see that he has got that pace. Obviously, he is learning. He is a young boy and he is getting better, improving. The more he is able to play, the better he is going to get. From our, perspective, very happy to have someone like him in the mix. We have to see how much playing time we can give him, we need to be realistic, we have a large squad, it is not possible to give everyone playing XI time,” said Dravid at the press-conference in Delhi on Tuesday.
“I think I am certainly someone who likes to have that consistency, give people time and let him feel settled in the positions. It would be interesting time to see how much playing time we give to Umran, we also have Arshdeep here who is brilliant as well. We have experience in the form of guys who have been with us before, Harshal, Bhuvi, Avesh. There are certain things we need to look at but it is nice and exciting to have a couple of young guys in the mix as well. It has given an opportunity for us to broaden our pool and see what they can do,” he further said.
So, what would India’s likely playing XI be:
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad 2. Ishan Kishan, 3. Shreyas Iyer 4. Rishabh Pant (capt & wk) 5. Hardik Pandya. 6. Dinesh Karthik 7.Harshal Patel 8. Bhuveshwar Kumar 9. Avesh Khan 10. Axar Patel 11. Yuzvendra Chahal
