3 surprising inclusions in India's T20 squad against England
Recently, BCCI selected the Indian team for the ODI and T20 leg of the England tour which begins in July. It is the most important tour in this season as the Indian team have a lot to prove in overseas conditions.
The importance of the England tour can be assessed from the fact that BCCI has sent a number of players to play in the English county to acclimatize to the pitches and to the weather in England as they want to leave no stone unturned to ensure India's victory in the Test series.
The ODI and T20 series also have an added importance this time as the next World Cup will be played in England in 2019 and the Indian team would be looking to try out different combinations in the series to see which suits them the best in those conditions.
IPL is underway now and a number of Indian hopefuls have performed pretty well in the competition. While some of the IPL performers have been given a place in the Indian squad, the other performers have been overlooked for the underperforming regulars in the Indian team. Let's have a look at the players who should consider themselves lucky to be in the Indian squad.
Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey was bought in this year's auction for a huge price by Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was paid such a huge price because Hyderabad team management considered him to be the most important batsman of the team in the Middle order and sought to build a team around him.
His performance though has been poor, to say the least. He has been having a horrible run this year as he has scored just 184 runs in 10 matches at a paltry average of 23 and a strike rate of 112.
Pandey has scored two fifties but both have come at a strike rate of close to 100. In both the innings, he struggled to reach the half-century mark and in one of those innings, his slow start was the reason for Hyderabad losing the match.
Pandey has been in poor form as he has been unable to time the ball properly. With the likes of Rayudu, Pant, Iyer performing in the IPL, Pandey should definitely consider himself lucky to be selected ahead of these players.