Former Indian Batter Gautam Gambhir said he was astonished by the Indian team selection in the T20I series against South Africa. Gautam Gambhir felt India missed a chance by excluding Ravi Bishnoi from the Playing 11. The Leg spinner was the player of the series in the recently concluded T20I series against Australia and Ravi Bishnoi is also the number 1 ranked bowler in the format.
India lost the 2nd T20I against South Africa by five wickets after the first got washed out. Coming into the third game Team India was required to win to avoid a series defeat. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav is giving a tight competition to former skipper Virat Kohli in losing the coin tosses. SKY now lost six consecutive tosses, 4 against Australia and 2 against South Africa and India was put in to bat first in of all the games which might not be a bad result considering India’s extraordinary record in run chases.
South African Skipper Aiden Markram said the team had 3 changes with a few fast bowlers rested to prepare for the test series. Left arm Quick Nandre Burger made his debut and WK batter Donovan Ferreira got one more chance to showcase his talent on the International stage. Senior Keshav Maharaj also returned to the playing 11 for SA. Meanwhile, India named an unchanged playing 11 which surprised a few.
Gautam Gambhir furious with the absence of Ravi Bishnoi
Speaking on Star Sports before the start of the game, Gambhir pointed out that the venue for the 3rd T20I Johannesburg was better for playing someone like Ravi Bishnoi with his wicket-taking ability. The former Delhi batter said,
“Probably, yes Ravi Bishnoi for one of the fast bowlers, definitely. You have got a left-arm wrist spinner and a right-arm wrist spinner. That could have been a great attacking option. I am a bit surprised that they have gone with the same playing XI. Who is your best bet to take wickets in the powerplay? It has to be your leg-spinner,” said Gautam Gambhir
“It can’t be fast bowlers against this kind of batting line-up. And that also in conditions like Johannesburg. Definitely, a bit of a surprise there with Ravi Bishnoi not playing. You should never become the Player of the Series (laughs). That’s the first criteria for getting dropped,” he added.
India registered the victory to level the series 1-1
Leaving all these things aside, Team India defeated South Africa in the Final T20I to finish the series 1-1. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav scored a scintillating century and Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a fifty helping India post a formidable total of 201.
Chasing 202, South Africa were greeted by some good opening spell by the Indian Pacers and then the spinners did the rest. Kuldeep Yadav shined picking a fifer on his birthday. Suryakumar was picked as the Player of the series after scoring 156 runs in two games including a hundred and a fifty.
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