Ahead of the India-New Zealand Cricket World Cup 2023 match in Dharamsala on Sunday, the big question for the hosts is to find Hardik Pandya’s replacement. The star all-rounder was injured in India’s previous match against Bangladesh and will not play against New Zealand. Both teams are undefeated so far and the winner will consolidate their place at the top of the Cricket World Cup standings.
Hardik Pandya’s absence upsets the balance of India’s 11 players, but head coach Rahul Dravid dropped plenty of hints that Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav would be in contention without confirming the preferred combination for Sunday’s World Cup match against New Zealand . Pandya injured his left ankle while bowling in the previous match against Bangladesh in Pune and is currently under the supervision of BCCI’s medical team at the National Cricket Academy.
“…he (Hardik) is obviously an important player for us so we will have to work around that and see what is the best combination we can come up with. We will have to see what works best for these conditions and these wickets. But probably doesn’t have the kind of balance that we probably used in the first four games,” Dravid was very practical in his thought process.
Shami’s ability to come into the picture became clear when he named Shardul as the fourth seam in the lineup where Pandya was ahead in the pecking order. Dravid did not reveal the playing XI and Hardik’s possible replacement, but hinted that besides Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin is also an option.
“Obviously the three seams, having someone like Shami sitting there and bringing him into this game is a great option. In some cases there is Ashwin who has obviously sat out, who has great quality as well. So there are two or three combinations that we can use if we consider this until Hardik comes back,” he added.
Dravid is someone who is not even known to reveal the simplest open and closed team combinations even when he was captain. Typically, he said all options are explored, but you can read between the lines.
“We can obviously go for the three fast bowlers or the three spinners. With those kind of combinations we can still play Ash (Ashwin) and push Jadeja forward,” he said.
“Lots of different, different permutations and combinations. I wouldn’t want to give too much away. I mean, we’re pretty clear about what our game 11 is going to be tomorrow.
The coach also hinted that it is a battle between Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the batting department, but then one statement became a decisive reason why Suryakumar has a better chance as they are looking at a finisher.
“I mean, it’s nice to have Ishan. And as you rightly said, he’s playing well. He’s left-handed. If you’re looking for someone a little higher in the rankings, maybe we can go for him.” Ishan.”
With Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul selecting themselves, No. 6 cannot be Kishan’s spot and Dravid’s statement confirms this fact.
Then again, Surya has also come into great form against Australia, as we saw. Played some fantastic innings. Absolutely fantastic player against spin, as we know. Left-arm spin or off-spin, or any kind of spin,” Dravid said.
Surya is watched at number 6 and that is where Pandya usually bats.
“And besides, the role could be a middle role – so we’ll just have to see which one we want – we’re quite clear about the kind of roles people can play. So if you’re looking for someone who can maybe be a bit of an enforcer for us in the lower middle class, Surya is definitely someone who can do that.
Dravid gave enough hints to suggest that Shardul Thakur might be able to lay the foundation on Sunday.
“I mean, Shardul obviously, his role was to be such a bowling all-rounder for us, you know, in the matches that he played.
“In the matches he played we saw him as someone who certainly has the ability to take wickets as we have seen and then bowl those middle overs for us and be a fourth apparent option for us on certain wickets for which probably that fourth apparent option.” Dravid emphasized that Thakur is working hard on his batting, but it is clear that he is still not a ready-made number 7 if you push Jadeja higher.
“Obviously he hasn’t had a chance to really hit much lately. But he’s definitely been working really hard in the nets with his at-bats. And we’ve been working really hard on it.”
“We have seen that he has the ability to hit some big shots and play some good strokes. But that was definitely the kind of role that he suited for us in the role of an all-round bowler,” Dravid said.
With PTI inputs
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