Former Indian opener Sadagopan Ramesh has questioned India’s fast bowling combination for the match against the UAE. The Men in Blue registered a thumping win of nine wickets but surprisingly played with only genuine seamer in Jasprit Bumrah.

Suryakumar Yadav’s team picked Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel as the three all-rounders in the side. Pandya opened the bowling innings with Bumrah whereas Dube bagged three wickets in two overs he bowled.

Surprisingly, Arshdeep Singh, who is India’s most successful T20I bowler with 99 wickets, was left out of the playing XI.

“There was a time when Hardik Pandya was our third seamer in T20s. Now, if Shivam Dube is your third seamer, the graph is heading down there itself. Yes, he bowled well yesterday but it was against a side anyone can bowl well against,” Singh said on his YouTube channel.

“Going forward, against decent sides, this could become a challenge. They are preferring Shivam Dube over Rinku Singh only because of the bowling and the third seaming option. It is clear that the management has consistently shown faith in Shivam Dube. It’s a good thing but it remains to be seen if he repays the trust.”

On the other hand, vice-captain Shubman Gill opened the innings with Abhishek Sharma and Ramesh said Sanju Samson is slowly being pushed out of the team. Earlier, Samson was opening the innings with Sharma but Gill’s appointment as India’s vice-captain has put the former’s place in jeopardy.

“Shubman Gill has started opening and Sanju Samson has been pushed down the order. One starts questioning if Sanju Samson is slowly being pushed out. Yes, we can say he’s going to play at No. 4 or 5. But in T20 cricket, there is a big difference between batting in the powerplay and batting without the advantage of the powerplay against quality bowling attacks. There is a good chance of Sanju Samson facing challenges in the middle order,” said Ramesh.

India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, on Sunday.