India’s third seamer in the 2022 T20 World Cup will be a big question in every indian mind. The penultimate and most crucial training session for the Indian team before the T20 World Cup has begun. The Asia Cup gives the team management the perfect opportunity to decide on their final selection for the mega-tournament, along with international T20I series against Australia and South Africa.
In Australian conditions, the pace battery will play a crucial role. Recently, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has already shown signs of recovering his old magic. Hopes that he will lead the assault alongside Jasprit Bumrah in the World T20 have been raised by his performances on the recent tour of England and the Caribbean.
These two, along with Hardik Pandya, are most likely to handle the pace-bowling duties, barring any unforeseen injuries. With Pandya batting up high and Ravindra Jadeja fitting in at number seven, there will be room in the XI for another great fast bowler.
India has participated in 23 T20 Internationals since the last World Cup. For the third pacer position, primarily three bowlers—Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, and Arshdeep Singh—have been tested. The trio is vying with one another for a spot in the World Cup; they have played, respectively, 17, 13, and six T20 Internationals.
What qualities will the third pacer need to possess for India to become India’s third seamer in the 2022 T20 World Cup
Before choosing one of the players for the role, it is crucial to know what the think tank expects from the third pacer. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has just been given primary responsibility for the new-ball. In the most recent series against the West Indies, there were times when he didn’t even come back for a second spell. It’s not like his reputation as a death-over bowler is waning. He had an efficiency rate of 8.6 in the IPL 2022 death overs.
The Meerut-born bowler occasionally suffered from an undue reliance on his arsenal of shorter deliveries and knuckleballs. But over the past several months, Bhuvneshwar has been blending them with the conventional yorkers, which may have improved his skill set and performance in that part of the game. Therefore, it is not as though the Indian squad would completely ignore him in the death overs.
Should Harshal Patel be given the opportunity first?
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Who ought to play the third seamer for India in the T20 World Cup in 2022? In the IPL, Harshal Patel has excelled.
However, Rohit Sharma occasionally favours giving him a lengthy three-over spell during the powerplay, leaving room for another bowler to join Jasprit Bumrah at the finish of the innings. That is possibly the main justification for the management’s request that Harshal Patel be added to the squad right away following the original T20 World Cup.
Harshal has been a revelation with the old ball in the last two Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons, taking 52 wickets. However, there are doubts as to whether his abilities would produce the same results on the slightly more expensive tracks Down Under, particularly given that Harshal did not return from his most recent tour of the United Kingdom with spectacular numbers (UK). In four games, the pacer got five wickets at an average rating of 9.8, despite worries that his abilities might not hold up under foreign conditions.
Khan, Avesh?
As a result, Avesh Khan was added to the setup. Avesh plays the role of an enforcer during the middle innings (7–16), where he boasts an efficiency rate of 7.25. However, he occasionally leaks one pass too many in the death. In the IPL, he finished an inning with a 9.69 economy, giving up runs. Furthermore, in 31 such innings, he has only claimed 16 wickets in the death over. In Bumrah’s presence, teams would probably up their assault on the other pacer, and Avesh might legitimately be taken to task in such situation.
Why Arshdeep Singh seems like a great choice Arshdeep Singh is now here.
The Indian team has been in need of a good left-arm pacer for a while. It has been decided that the bowling unit needs a newer component and angle. These are the boxes that Arshdeep checks, and he takes the spotlight with his amazingly reliable performances at the finish of the innings.
He has played six T20I matches so far, maintaining a remarkable economy rate of 6.34. However, a larger number of players across the IPL reveals that during the course of his IPL career, he has only allowed runs in the death overs at an average of 8.78.
Arshdeep took up and excelled in the death-bowling responsibilities for the Punjab Kings past season, showing how his skill sets have only improved in that stage in recent years. It is well-known that he has a propensity for pinning down successive yorkers and using his angles to deny the batsmen space to play their shots.
Although there have been complaints about his inconsistent wicket-taking, his record of nine rejections in six T20Is with the mentioned economy rate is respectable for a player with his limited international experience.
Additionally, one shouldn’t discount his experience with the new ball. Arshdeep has the capacity to consistently hit the right, hard lengths, which can enhance Bhuvneshwar’s swing-bowling in the powerplay. By doing this, Rohit can move Bumrah’s overs into the middle and final phases of the innings, providing the team management a variety of bowling alternatives to choose from.
The middle overs can feature strong bowling thanks to Hardik Pandya.
Additionally, Hardik’s return to the field with the bat has improved India’s bowling in the middle overs. He has been approaching the 140 kph level and is probably going to take advantage of the local conditions in Australia. Since IPL 2022, the all-rounder has taken eight wickets in 11 T20I innings, and since making a comeback this year, his repertoire of deliveries has only gotten wider.
That makes it possible that India won’t always require Avesh to act as an executioner in the middle-overs. Arshdeep appears to have more offer than his other two countrymen in the remaining two characteristics, namely at the beginning and at the end. Regarding his extremely little foreign experience, this is unquestionably true.
Due to his present ailment, Harshal may not have much time to beat Arshdeep and secure a berth in the World Cup roster. When India won the World Cup the last time around, Zaheer Khan, a left-arm pacer, commanded the bowling assault expertly throughout the competition. Arshdeep is too young to take on the position of leader per se, but might he be the bright spot as India tries to end their ICC tournament drought?
Time will only tell. That’s all for India’s third seamer in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Keep Visiting.
Also Read: 2022 Asia Cup Predictions (sportzliveupdates.com)
