Tweet Of Harsha Bhogle On Team India’s T20I Squad vs SA Has Gone Viral: On Sunday, the BCCI announced the T20I squad for the upcoming 5-match home series versus South Africa. The talking point from the squad was the inclusion of both Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, both getting their maiden India call-up after terrific performances in the IPL 2022.
Malik, the young Sunrisers Hyderabad’s pace sensation, has taken 21 wickets in 13 matches; Malik earlier bowled the second-fastest delivery ever in the IPL. Arshdeep, the left-arm Punjab Kings seamer, has been arguably the best death bowler in the tournament. Arshdeep has 10 wickets to show in 13 matches at a brilliant economy of 7.7 – applaudable given he’s been bowling most of his overs in the latter half of the innings, with 2-3 overs in the death.
The squad also saw the return of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik. Pandya last played international cricket at the T20 World Cup. He’d been away since then working hard on his fitness and that hard work was visible in his all-round show at the IPL, where he’s led Gujarat Titans to the top of the table. Pandya is scoring runs, he regularly bowling and has developed maturity as a cricketer.
Karthik last represented India in 2019, and now has broken the door down with his sizzling performances in the IPL 2022 – carrying the RCB batting line-up for most of the time, Karthik has struck 287 runs at a strike rate of 191; no other batter with over 200 runs in the tournament has a higher strike rate than Karthik; in the death overs his strike has been of 226!
Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle said that he was happy with some of the inclusions in the squad. Bhogle also felt that it will be demanding on the KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, the captain and vice-captain for the series – with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah rested – to play a lot of cricket. After the South Africa series, India tour England for one Test, and 6 white-ball matches.
“Delighted to see Avesh, Arshdeep & Umran Malik in the squad; and to think that Khaleel & Mohsin could have made the cut too; Good that the skills of Dinesh Karthik & Bhuvi have been recognised. Going to be tough on KL Rahul & Rishabh. Thought they might go straight to the test(sic),” Bhogle tweeted.
Delighted to see Avesh, Arshdeep & Umran Malik in the squad; and to think that Khaleel & Mohsin could have made the cut too; Good that the skills of Dinesh Karthik & Bhuvi have been recognised. Going to be tough on KL Rahul & Rishabh. Thought they might go straight to the test.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 22, 2022
