4th T20I: No place for Suryakumar Yadav, Navdeep Saini in squad?

Suryakumar Yadav during a practice session at Ahmedabad recently. Pic/Twitter; (right) India pacer Navdeep Saini. Pic/AFP

Out to experiment in their last international series in the shortest format before hosting the T20 World Cup later this year, the Indian team management are unsure about trying out new players with only two matches left against England here.

When asked if the team will experiment and give chances to players like Suryakumar Yadav or Navdeep Saini, batting coach Vikram Rathore said: "That's the discussion I don't think the management has had so far, so will see. We have a day tomorrow, will see what the team need now."

Mumbai batsman Yadav was given his India cap in the second T20 but he didn't get to bat during the seven-wicket win. However, he was dropped for the third match to accommodate his senior Mumbai teammate Rohit Sharma.

Vikram Rathore

Like Yadav, Saini, who can bowl at a much faster clip than the three seamers in the XI, has been warming the bench. The Indian new-ball bowlers have taken only three wickets while the English pacers have accounted for 13 out of 16 Indian wickets.

Rathore was non-committal on whether Yadav or Saini will get a look-in for today's fourth T20I. At the same time, both Rathore and skipper Virat Kohli defended KL Rahul being a part of the XI despite scoring only one run in three outings.

"Three failures do not change the fact that he's maybe the best batsman we have in this format, and he's done really well for us in the past year," Rathore said.
"Anybody can have a lean phase and KL has been our best batsman in the T20 format. He is averaging 40-plus with a strike rate of 145 and three failures doesn't change the fact that he is the best batsman we have in this format," the batting coach echoed what Kohli had said in the post-match presentation on Tuesday.

"This is the time when we need to support him and I am absolutely sure he will come out of the lean phase," Rathore said, hinting Rahul will not be dropped for the next two games.

"He has been a champion player," Kohli said of Rahul. "If you look at his stats in the last two to three years, they are probably better than anyone in T20 cricket. He will continue to be one of our main batters along with Rohit at the top of the order," reiterated the Indian skipper.