Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar feels that India are gearing up for a spin-heavy attack against Pakistan on the slow turf of the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. He has suggested that wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav could possibly be swapped in to replace Arshdeep Singh, the veteran paceman.
India began their ICC T20 World Cup campaign on a high note and have almost made it through to the next stage with two wins early on against the USA and Namibia. However, despite some strong performances from Indian players, a few loopholes were also evident over the last two games.
India’s upcoming game is, however, the biggest game of the tournament from the fans’ point of view, not because the India-Pakistan rivalry is often called the biggest rivalry or because they have a dominating record against the opposition, but because this would be their first challenge against a tough opponent coming into this World Cup.
Sunil Gavaskar predicts massive change in Indian attack ahead of big-money clash against Pakistan
Going by India’s current standards, it is very difficult for any team to give them a tough fight, which has already been proved over the last few series against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. When speaking about the shortest format, the Men in Blue have been an invincible side.
Ahead of the big-money fixture against Pakistan, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has opined that he believes India will be going for a massive tactical swap in their playing XI, as the high-voltage game would need one based on the change of playing conditions.
India’s game is at the R. Premadasa Stadium, which is one of the slowest and most spin-friendly tracks in the subcontinent, which means India might go with their natural instinct of playing three frontline spinners on such tracks.
Hence, Sunil Gavaskar predicted that Arshdeep Singh could be replaced by chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, as India looks to build a spin-heavy attack for Colombo.
“All our bowlers picked up wickets. Arshdeep did not complete his four overs, while Hardik Pandya finished his quota. This hints that Kuldeep Yadav could replace Arshdeep against Pakistan,” said Gavaskar.
Gavaskar lands massive praise on Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav
According to Gavaskar, India’s game plan against Namibia and captain Suryakumar Yadav’s smart rotation of bowlers have almost indicated the change. Speaking on Star Sports Live, Gavaskar said that India might plan a spin-heavy attack, and Arshdeep might be sacrificed for it.
In their big win against Namibia, Arshdeep was the only one to be hit for runs early on and did not even get to complete his quota of four overs, unlike Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.
According to Sunil Gavaskar, opening the bowling with Hardik Pandya once again looked like a good choice, and so was limiting Varun Chakravarthy to just 2 overs, as the Indian skipper did not want to expose all his skills ahead of the big match.
“Varun gets wickets whenever he is asked to bowl, and Axar Patel picking up two wickets is a very good sign,” said Gavaskar as he highlighted the big positives for India.
“He needs to spend more time at the crease,” Sunil Gavaskar’s unfiltered opinion on Sanju Samson
Having complimented the bowling deck enough, he went on to talk highly of Sanju Samson’s batting against Namibia in the last game. Sanju was brought in as Abhishek Sharma‘s replacement after the latter suffered from a stomach infection.
Abhishek’s return for the Pakistan clash is yet to be finalised, and if Samson continues to be part of the Indian playing XI, the former opener has massive advice for him. Sunil Gavaskar pointed out his batting flaw, which makes him vulnerable early on.
“He goes too deep and plays that flick shot. He needs to spend more time at the crease, especially if he opens against the new ball,” Gavaskar explained.
