T20 World Cup 2021: 3 reasons why India should've picked an extra pacer
BCCI recently announced their 15-man India squad for T20 World Cup, and it came with a few surprises.
As many as five spinners - Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - made the squad, with only one of them being a proper T20 all-rounder. Surprisingly, India picked only three pacers - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are part of the reserves for the T20 World Cup. But India do seem a bit thin in the pace department, especially when you consider the fact that Shami has played only 12 T20Is.
Here are three reasons why India should've picked an extra pacer in their T20 World Cup squad.
#3 The UAE didn't play true to its nature during IPL 2020
The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was hosted in the UAE due to the COVID crisis in India. While this year's tournament will provide a better indication of what the conditions are like in the Middle East, IPL 2020 was largely dominated by fast bowlers.
The top four wicket-takers - Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Anrich Nortje - were all pacers, with the quartet's respective teams making the final. Others like T Natarajan, Mohammed Shami and Jofra Archer were also part of the top 10 in the Purple Cap list.
Only a few spinners found success in the UAE, which was surprisingly unhelpful towards the slower bowlers. If the same happens at the T20 World Cup, India might need extra reinforcement in the pace department.
#2 Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been highly injury-prone in the recent past
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As mentioned earlier, Shami has played only a handful of shortest-format games for India, who are expected to go in with two frontline pacers in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. If either of them suffers an injury, the Men in Blue will see their plans go up in smoke.
Bhuvneshwar has been highly injury-prone over the last few years. He is completely out of the Test picture because of the same, and has dealt with injuries in each of his last two IPL seasons for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 31-year-old didn't seem to be in peak shape during the recent Sri Lanka series as well, as he clocked speeds in the late 120s.
India have placed a lot of faith in a bowler who has seriously struggled with injuries in the recent past, with a tightly congested second phase of the IPL yet to come.
#1 Hardik Pandya's bowling is still under the scanner
If India go in with two premier pacers, which they would probably need to given that the bowlers offer little batting cover, Hardik Pandya will have to serve as the third pacer. The only pace-bowling all-rounder in the side, the 27-year-old has massive responsibility on his shoulders.
Can Pandya, the bowler, come good in the UAE? He hasn't bowled for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, and when he has rolled his arm over for India he has looked far from convincing. Now with a modified action, Pandya will take some time to get some rhythm going and guarantee his captain four overs.
As of now, Pandya doesn't seem to be a reliable enough option for the third pacer role. But since India have picked only three pacers who don't offer much with the bat, he has no choice but to step up in the T20 World Cup 2021.