Shardul Thakur, the young pace-bowling all-rounder is set to replace Axar Patel in the T20 World Cup Squad for India. Shardul has performed exceptionally well in the ongoing IPL season and his exploits with the bat in the recently concluded England series have earned him this spot. Axar on the other hand to has done decently well but India wanted to add a pacer and hence he misses out. Hardik Pandya has not bowled a single over yet and hence this development has happened. Here is a look at how the events panned out: –
Indian Team for T20 World Cup 2021: –
Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohd Shami.
Standby players: – Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar.
Net Bowlers: –
Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Venkatesh Iyer, Lukman Meriwala, Umran Malik, Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed and K. Gowtham.
Shardul Thakur Added to the Indian Team: –
Shardul Thakur was added to the Indian Team on 13th October 2021. He replaced Axar Patel in the Indian Team for the T20 World Cup in 2021. Thakur has performed well in the recently concluded IPL games. He has been the best bowler for his franchise, the Chennai Super Kings. Shardul Thakur has the knack of picking wickets. He is often said to be the player with the golden arm. Shardul Thakur also has good batting abilities. He has the skill to bat down the order. Shardul Thakur can also score quick runs in the dying moments of the game and can bring momentum to the side.
Shardul Thakur has shown his batting abilities in the just-completed England series, scoring 3 match-turning half-centuries. One can never forget his innings in the crucial match at Gabba. Hardik Pandya not bowling an over in this IPL also has added to his case. As initially the team was selected on the basis that Hardik will be bowling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not in the best form and Shardul can be picked in his place as well.
Yuzvendra Chahal not in Indian T20 World Cup Team: –
Yuzvendra Chahal has raised many eyebrows after missing out on the T20 World Cup Team. Chahal has been in the form of his life and has been playing his heart out for his franchise, RCB. He has been the backbone of RCB’s bowling attack. On the other hand, Rahul Chahar has been given the go-ahead. In the last few matches for the Mumbai Indians, Rahul Chahar was dropped. Now the major question for the selectors is whether a player who doesn’t have a spot in Mumbai Indians’ team can be picked for India?