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T20 World Cup: Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Were The Two Concerns, Parthiv Patel After India Beat England in Practice Game

T20 World Cup, Ind vs Eng: As per Patel, Hardik Pandya, not bowling and Bhuvneshwar Kumar appearing lacklustre were the two concerning factors for the side.

Dubai: India cruised to a seven-wicket win over England on Monday in their first warm-up game. Despite that, ex-India cricketer Parthiv Patel reckons there are concerns for the side that need to be addressed. As per Patel, Hardik Pandya, not bowling and Bhuvneshwar Kumar appearing lacklustre were the two concerning factors for the side. The fast bowler conceded 54 off four overs, bowling three wides without picking up a wicket, whereas Hardik scored 12* off 10 balls. With Hardik, the issue is that he is not bowling.

“I don’t think Hardik is going to bowl in the first few games looking at the way Virat Kohli has used only five bowlers. Yes, I’m worried about Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He looks in the kind of form which he had in the IPL, where he took just six wickets, but yeah, he looked out of rhythm, almost as if didn’t practice. We might just see Shardul Thakur in the next game. It might be a combination that we might see,” Parthiv said during the mid-innings interval.

India ticked some boxes that includes two senior pacers Jasprit Bumrah (1/26) and Mohammed Shami (3/40) hitting the straps straightaway with some fast and accurate deliveries.

However, the contest that head coach Ravi Shastri and captain Kohli keenly watched was how well young leg-spinner Chahar (1/43 in 4 overs) and veteran off-spinner Ashwin (0/23 in 4 overs) shape up for the third spinner’s slot.

The Indian team is pretty certain that Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy are the two spinners who will be in operation when the campaign starts. The two had also played an IPL final just few days back along with play-off games and hence both were rested.

India takes on Australia in their second warm-up game before locking horns with arch-rivals Pakistan in their tournament opener on October 24.

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