The five-match T20 series between South Africa and India will be started on Thursday while star pacer Umran Malik has impressed one and all with performances in the IPL and found a place in the squad for the series against Proteas.
The five-match T20I series between South Africa and India will be started on Thursday at the Arjun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The Indian side started practicing for the series on Monday.
While the younger pacer Umran Malik has impressed one and all with his performances in the recent IPL as he took 22 wickets for the SunRisers Hyderabad, and bowled the second fastest delivery of the season at 157kmph. So it needs to be seen whether he is given a chance in the first T20I against South Africa.
Indian head coach Rahul Dravid spoke to reporters during a press conference at Arun Jaitley Stadium and he gave his take on the pacer from Jammu and what he can bring to the table.
“Yeah, it is exciting. He certainly bowled quickly and with pace. Another thing that has been interesting for me watching the IPL from the outside is the number of Indian bowlers bowling fast. And obviously, being a coach of all three formats of the game, I would love to see that translated into the longer formats of the game. But it is brilliant in terms of watching Umran in the nets, you can see that he has got that pace,”
said Dravid.
“Obviously, he is learning. He is a young boy and he is getting better, and improving. The more he can play, the better he is going to get. From our, perspective, very happy to have someone like him in the mix. We have to see how much playing time we can give him, we need to be realistic, we have a large squad, and it is not possible to give everyone playing XI time. I think I am certainly someone who likes to have that consistency, give people to and let them feel settled in their positions. It would be an interesting time to see how much playing time we give to Umran, we also have Arshdeep here who is brilliant as well. We have experience in the form of guys who have been with us before, Harshal, Bhuvi, and Avesh. There are certain things we need to look at but it is nice and exciting to have a couple of young guys in the mix as well. It has allowed us to broaden our pool and see what they can do,”
he added.
The senior Indian players including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested for the upcoming series against Proteas. The young talent Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have found a place in the squad for the five-match T20 series.
KL Rahul will lead the Indian side in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya, who lead the IPL franchise Gujarat Titans to IPL glory in their debut season, will also come back to the team.
India T20I squad: KL Rahul (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Axesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.