T20 World Cup 2021: Play Shardul Thakur instead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar – Ajit Agarkar

Former Indian fast bowler Ajit Agarkar believes Team India should play Shardul Thakur instead of out-of-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the high-octane match against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.

Kumar has been struggling to find his forms and hasn’t delivered the goods for the team.

The swing master didn’t have a great run in the IPL 2021 for Sunrisers Hyderabad as he scalped six wickets in 11 matches and bowled with an average of 55.83 and economy rate of 7.97.

In fact, he had made a good comeback in the limited-overs series against England earlier in the year but he hasn’t been able to continue the same. But he conceded 54 runs in the warm-up match against England on Monday and looked out of sorts.

On the other hand, Shardul Thakur was added to the World Cup squad in place of Axar Patel. Thakur scalped 21 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 25.06 and an economy rate of 8.80 in IPL 2021. Thakur was also CSK’s leading wicket-taker of the recently concluded season. Furthermore, Thakur can also deliver the goods with the bat while batting down the order.

Speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected, Ajit Agarkar said: “Relatively certain that Virat Kohli would like six bowling options. If the pitch has something to offer, then you can perhaps take a chance with five bowlers, but if it’s a flat pitch, he would ideally want to go in with six bowlers with three seamers and they have lots of spin options.”

He continued: “And Jadeja is an all-rounder whose batting has come out in leaps and bounds. So, you can treat him as one of the top-order batsmen. So, my six options if Hadik Pandya is not to bowl – would be Bumrah, Shami, Shardul, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar.”

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli had put his weight behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar and added that his experience will be priceless for them in the T20I showpiece.

“No, not at all [concerned]. His economy rates still continue to be top-notch, something that he’s always been known for and his experience comes to the fore under pressure,” Virat Kohli said on Saturday.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021.