3 Indian cricketers who might not get a game during the upcoming T20 Series against Australia
Team India is set to get back into action this Wednesday when they square off against the Australian cricket team in a T20I match to kick-start their 2-month Australian sojourn. India is set to play three T20 matches, four Test matches, and three ODIs as part of this tour.
India has already announced the squads for T20I series and Test series. They are yet to announce the squad for the ODI series.
India's squad for T20I series - Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed
Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who skipped the T20 series against West Indies, makes a comeback. MS Dhoni's hasty retreat from T20I cricket has opened the doors for his long-term compatriot Dinesh Karthik to have a steady run in the playing XI.
India is not expected to make many changes to their XI that played in the last game against West Indies. The team's premier players Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are expected to get back into the playing XI in place of Manish Pandey and Washington Sundar.
Here are 3 players who might not get a chance to play a game during the upcoming T20I series against Australians -
#3 Shreyas Iyer
The Delhi Daredevils skipper Shreyas Iyer made his T20 international debut last year against Sri Lanka in Delhi. But since then, he has failed to cement his position in the star-studded batting line-up of India.
He is basically a middle-order batsman who plays at number three or number four position for his franchise and state teams. The current Indian team is already crowded with exceptional players in the top order and upper middle order. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli are almost indispensable at the top of the order. This has forced KL Rahul, who is the highest-ranked Indian batsman in ICC T20I rankings (4th position) to play at number 4 in the batting line-up.
All of the top 4 batsmen are in good form, so it looks highly unlikely that team management will tinker with the successful combination at this point. So only during the occasion of unfortunate injury or resting of any of the top order batsmen, the fringe batsmen might get a chance to play a game.
Also, in such a case, Manish Pandey will be the one to get the nod ahead of Shreyas Iyer, as he has been with the team for a longer period of time and was also a part of playing XI in their recent T20 match.