T20 World Cup: "A good headache will start for India with players in form" - Salman Butt
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt said that India will face a selection headache going into the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. However, he believes it will be a good headache to have as they have several in-form players to choose from.
Butt hailed India's tactics in the warm-up matches and said that it allowed even out-of-form players to get some game time and get among the runs. Speaking after India's win over Australia in their warm-up match, Butt said on his Youtube channel:
"Now a good headache will start for India. Ishan Kishan is in form, Suryakumar Yadav is in form, Rishabh Pant finished the last match and Hardik Pandya has also been sent to finish matches and he has stayed unbeaten. Today, Rohit Sharma played and hit 60 off 41 and KL Rahul again played a beautiful knock of 39. So The whole team is in form."
Rohit Sharma hit a fine 60 before retiring to allow Hardik Pandya some time in the middle while Suryakumar Yadav looked in good nick, scoring 28 off 27 deliveries.
5⃣0⃣ for @ImRo45! 👏 👏
What a fine knock he is playing in the chase! 👍 👍
#TeamIndia 113/1 after 14 overs.
#INDvAUS #T20WorldCup https://t.co/lwSzew6NUR
Speaking about Virat Kohli and David Warner, who haven't been in the best of form coming into the tournament, Butt said they are big-match players who will turn up on an occasion like the World Cup. He said:
"Virat Kohli is a big match player, he has scored runs all over the world. He is not in the best of form right now, but today he rested himself. Sometimes rest helps you regain form. When you take a break and come back fresh, you respond better going into a big match. So we will see that in the tournament. When the main matches come, these are big players. They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going."
He added:
"And these two (Kohli and Warner) are tough. And they know the art of run-scoring. Someone’s form can be good or bad. But they are too good to be left out because they haven’t scored runs recently. And Kohli, in the IPL, has hit a couple of fifties. And he played well in the last two T20Is against England as well. That is a positive for India."
India used the warm-up matches well: Salman Butt
Salman Butt praised India for allowing all their players game time to gain some rhythm going into the World Cup. He said:
"India beat Australia rather comfortably in their practice match. They look all ready to go in the World Cup. They have used the practice matches very well. The way they have brought everyone back in form. They gave Ishan Kishan a chance, he scored runs, today they promoted Suryakumar Yadav up the order and he scored runs. Rohit Sharma did not play the last match, he made runs today. So everyone got some game time. The real purpose of warm-up matches is to give everyone game time."
India beat England and Australia in their two warm-up matches.
2⃣ in 2⃣ for #TeamIndia! 🔝👌👌
India beat Australia and register their second win in a row in the warm-up games 👏👏
#INDvAUS #T20WorldCup https://t.co/CKL9oK7yI6
The Men in Blue will begin their T20 World Cup campaign with the Super 12 clash against Pakistan on October 24.