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India Predicted XI vs WI 1st T20: ‘Kul-Cha’ reunion likely at Eden Gardens

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India Predicted XI vs WI 1st T20: ‘Kul-Cha’ reunion likely at Eden Gardens

India will be looking to follow up their 3-0 ODI series sweep against the West Indies with a good start in the three-match T20I series that begins on Wednesday. The series will be played entirely at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens.

Bowling was India’s strength in the ODI series. While the hosts failed to cross 300 in both matches in which they batted first, they dismissed the West Indies for 176 in the first ODI, 193 in the second, and 169 in the third.

Here is a look at the predicted playing XI for India:

1 Rohit Sharma The Indian captain was one of the few batters who managed to score a half-century in the ODI series. However, he was dismissed for just five and 13 runs in the second and third ODI after scoring 60 in the first.

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2 Ishan Kishan With KL Rahul being ruled out for the T20I series with a hamstring injury, Ishan Kishan could be seen opening the Indian innings. While Ruturaj Gaikwad is also in the squad, Kishan seems to be placed above him in the pecking order and could be given a chance in the T20Is despite being dropped for the second and third ODIs after his 36-ball 28 in the first.

3 Virat Kohli The former captain scored just 26 runs in the ODI series and India will be hoping that he finds some kind of form in the T20Is. Kohli

4 Rishabh Pant Pant will be vice-captain of the team in Rahul’s absence. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the ODI series, even being experimented as an opener with Rohit.

5 Suryakumar Yadav The middle-order batter finished as the highest run-scorer in the ODI series and is expected to be a regular in all three T20Is. He scored 104 runs in the series with the highest score of 64.

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6 Shreyas Iyer Iyer scored 80 runs in the third ODI, which was the only match he played in the series, coming in at No.4. It was his 110-run stand with Pant that set up the match for India after they were reduced to 42/3 in the first 10 overs.

7 Deepak Chahar The fast bowler’s ability with the bat makes him a valuable asset in the lower order and he remains one of the most lethal bowlers around in the shortest format. Like Suryakumar, Chahar could be a regular in the T20I series as well.

8 Shardul Thakur Shardul Thakur was recently brought for a massive ₹10.75 crore by Delhi Capitals and despite being a partnership breaker, India would hope the all-rounder, along with Chahar, can provide late fireworks if it comes down to it.

9 Kuldeep Yadav With Ravindra Jadeja still out of the squad, and Axar yet to recover entirely, Kuldeep could be picked as the spin-bowling all-rounder for the series. With the spin-friendly conditions in Kolkata, it is likely that India will opt for a chinaman bowler over a seamer.

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10 Yuzvendra Chahal We might finally get to witness the reunion of ‘Kul-Cha’. Yuzvendra Chahal was impressive in the ODIs against West Indies and with Kuldeep, Chahal can recreate the magic which once made both wrist-spinners a big threat in limited-overs cricket for India.

11 Mohammed Siraj The pacer was one of the star performers for India in the third ODI, picking three wickets for 29 runs as India dismissed West Indies for just 169 runs. He picked a wicket each in the first two ODIs.

India predicted XI for 1st T20I: 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), 5 Suryakumar Yadav, 6 Shreyas Iyer, 7 Deepak Chahar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times

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Cricket

KL Rahul dangerously close to Laxman territory; to be perished for Sarfaraz Khan and Shubman Gill

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KL Rahul dangerously close to Laxman territory; to be perished for Sarfaraz Khan and Shubman Gill

To accommodate both Sarfaraz and Gill and stick with their five-bowler formula, a batter from the Bengaluru Test must make way. Ergo Rahul and the predicted axe

VVS Laxman went through the first half of his illustrious 15-and-a-half-year international career with the proverbial axe hanging over him. Despite his magical stroke-play and a well-founded reputation for rallying the lower order to bat above itself, he was forever the first name that sprang to the decision-makers’ minds when they had to drop someone to accommodate someone else. It wasn’t until the second half of his stint with the national team that he had ‘job security’, which automatically manifested itself in an array of glorious, match-turning knocks and earmarked him as one for a crisis.

KL Rahul is now dangerously close to approaching the Laxman territory, though at least in this instance, a case can be made out, perhaps, for why he often seems to be playing for his place. Almost a decade after his Test debut in Australia in December 2014, he has yet to nail down a permanent spot, a result of glaring inconsistency and repeated dalliances with injuries that have left him with a modest average of 33.87 from 53 Test appearances.

Unlike Laxman, who was thrust to the opener’s position for three years from 1997, successive team managements have worked overtime to create space for Rahul. He started off in the middle order in Melbourne against Australia, opened in the next Test in Sydney when he made a sparkling century, continued in that position for a good nine years – around the large pockets when either injuries or lack of form relegated him to the sidelines – and now seems to have found his calling in the middle order, where he was tried out in an almost last throw of the dice in South Africa last December.

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In his limited time at the No. 6 position, Rahul has been a revelation. On a spiteful surface in Centurion in his first innings back in the middle order, the classy right-hander made a marvellous 101 – Virat Kohli’s 38 was the next highest score – in India’s 245 all out. Two Tests later, against England in Hyderabad, he waltzed to 86 of the best until a hamstring strain kept him out of the last four Tests.

On his comeback last month against Bangladesh, Rahul showed why he is rated so highly, and therefore why he so frustrates when he chooses to shackle himself mentally, with uninhibited shot-making when India were pressing for a declaration (Chennai) and looking to make up for lost time with a frenetic batting approach (Kanpur) in the two Tests. Kanpur was especially mesmeric, 68 flowing off his bat in a mere 43 deliveries. It was the best of Rahul.

Axe hangs over Rahul’s head for India vs New Zealand 2nd Test

And yet here we are, two innings later, wondering whether he will, or should, feature in the playing XI in Pune, where India take on New Zealand in a must-win second Test from Thursday.

Shubman Gill, him of three centuries in his last six Tests, missed the Bengaluru defeat to the Kiwis with a stiff neck. Replacement batter Sarfaraz Khan made the most of own good fortune with a delectable 150, which makes it near impossible to drop him now that Gill is fully fit. To accommodate both Sarfaraz and Gill and stick with their five-bowler formula which has worked beautifully in the last few years, a batter from the Bengaluru Test must make way. Ergo Rahul and the predicted axe.

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One of the few men to have led India in all three formats internationally, Rahul didn’t help his cause with scores of 0 and 12 at his home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. In the first innings, he was strangled down leg-side by William O’Rourke while in the second, he received a peach from the same paceman operating with the second new ball and was again caught behind. Rahul was one of 11 failures in India’s first-innings 46 and one of seven wickets to fall in 93 deliveries to the second new cherry, but failures past and the logjam created by Gill’s availability have combined to identify him as the most susceptible to the axe.

It’s a cross impossible to bear, but also impossible to ignore just because it is so heavy, so overarching. Rahul is beyond gifted and makes batting appear oh-so-simple, but his struggles to embrace sustained run-making can’t be wished away. He is the eternal team man, much like his celebrated namesake also from Karnataka – both kept wickets admirably in 50-over World Cups 21 years apart, both made attractive and impactful runs during the tournament and both tasted bitter defeat at the hands of Australia in the final – but ‘eternal team man’ can sometimes be an euphemism for the ‘most dispensable’ and Rahul can be excused for thinking that those two lines have blurred beyond repair. Of course, if he is brutally honest to himself, he will acknowledge at least to himself that he too must bear culpability for the blurring of the lines.

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