With less than a year to go to the T20 World Cup in Australia, discussions and debates on what the Indian squad should look like are now common. Following the debacle at the T20 World Cup in UAE last year, the Men in Blue would be keen to leave a mark and they’re being led by a new management under head coach Rahul Dravid. Rohit Sharma has also been appointed as the new all-format captain of the side replacing Virat Kohli.
India’s bowling had looked quite toothless in the previous edition of the World Cup. The lack of Hardik Pandya’s fitness proved to be a massive headache for the side as he wasn’t able to bowl in any of the first two important matches against Pakistan and New Zealand.
This year, India are already starting to look beyond him and are considering several talented players who could make a case for themselves. Former India opener Wasim Jaffer thinks that Harshal Patel and Ravi Bishnoi could probe to potential candidates. Both the bowlers were in top form during the recent series against West Indies which India managed to clean sweep.
“I think Harshal Patel has knocked on the door. He has helped finish matches by delivering the 18th and 20th overs. Ravi Bishnoi is a candidate as well. We’ll have to see how he performs in this series because I feel this Sri Lankan team plays spin better than West Indies,” Wasim Jaffer told ESPN Cricinfo.
Harshal Patel, who had finished as the leading wicket-taker in IPL 2021, impressed everyone with his bowling in the death overs. Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi was handed his international debut during the series and his spin-bowling troubled several batters.
With India now setting their sights on Sri Lanka, Jaffer lauded the bowling unit for their performances against West Indies and is now expecting more of the same against Sri Lanka. “The bowlers performed brilliantly in the last series, especially in the last overs against the kind of batting West Indies have, whether it was Harshal Patel or Bhuvi. (Jasprit) Bumrah has returned in this series which will definitely give a boost to the bowling. The spin bowlers, whether it was Chahal or Bishnoi, also bowled well… Even Venkatesh Iyer, the way he provided a sixth bowling option for Rohit Sharma and got the big wickets of Kieron Pollard and Roston Chase. I feel the captain’s confidence would have increased a lot,” he added.
