Former pacer Zaheer Khan reckons that Team India might bring in rookie fast bowler Umran Malik for the third T20I against South Africa on June 14. It is a do-or-die game for the hosts in the ongoing five-match T20I series.
The Men in Blue have failed to defend targets in the first two matches of the series. In the first game, they failed to defend 211 runs while in the last encounter, the bowlers couldn’t defend 148 runs.
Zaheer Khan believes Team India must look to add some pace to their bowling line-up for the next game. In a discussion on Cricbuzz, he said:
“Inclination might be towards Umran for the next match. Extra pace can be handy. We have seen that in the IPL. We have seen Umran get (David) Miller out as well on one occasion with the ball, coming around the wicket and bowling really fast.”
He added:
“That’s something which can be a good match-up. You can go for runs as well, but you need to have that X-factor, something different which will, maybe, have that impact.”
Apart from Umran Malik, Team India also have young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh in their squad, who has impressed for the Punjab Kings in the last two IPL seasons.
“Winning all the remaining games will be a good challenge” – Zaheer Khan
Adding further, Zaheer said that India might get into a habit of winning with the T20 World Cup slated to take place in a few months’ time in Australia.
“When you are talking about the big World Cup, you want to get into a habit of winning games, no matter who is taking the field. The key players are not part of the series, but you still have a brand of cricket that you have been playing. As a culture in the team, it is very important to protect that. Winning all the remaining games is a good challenge, but it’s not going to be easy,” Zaheer Khan added.
India will have to win all their remaining three games to win the series and the hosts will look to come all guns blazing.
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