Virender Sehwag minced no phrases whereas expressing disappointment over Virat Kohli’s choice to not bowl Hardik Pandya within the second ODI in opposition to England in Pune on Saturday, which the hosts misplaced by six wickets.
Despite piling a big 336/6 on the board, the pair of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes made mockery of the stiff run chase as vacationers wrapped up the proceedings inside 44 overs. Bairstow notched up his eleventh ODI ton through the run-chase, whereas his associate Stokes fell quick by a run from finishing a effectively deserved century.
However, what got here as a shock for a lot of was Kohli’s choice to not use Hardik within the bowling division and sticking with spin regardless of Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya leaking runs from each ends.
On being requested in regards to the motive behind not utilising Hardik within the bowling division, Kohli stated: “We need to manage his (Hardik) body. Need to understand where we need this skill set. Did utilize him in the T20Is but in the ODIs, it’s about managing his workload. We have Test cricket in England coming up too. So it’s important for us to have him fit.”
Sehwag, nevertheless, felt that the reason by Kohli was not justified and felt that Hardik might have rolled his arms for a couple of overs being a wicket-taker bowler.
“We solely have the IPL subsequent. So you’re saying that we have now no downside shedding the ODI collection as a result of we needed to handle Hardik Pandya’s workload. If his workload doesn’t embrace 4-5 overs then it’s flawed. But it additionally shouldn’t be the case that he isn’t bowling even a single over. Fielding for 50 overs additionally causes fatigue. So if he provides 4-5 overs to it, it shouldn’t make an enormous distinction on his workload.”
“I don’t know who decides that Hardik Pandya’s workload has become excessive. Since he has come back from his [back] surgery, he hasn’t played much cricket. He sat out in the Tests, played the 5 T20Is, and bowled in 2-3 of those… so he hasn’t taken any load yet. But yes, this is a possibility that he himself might have asked for a break from bowling in the ODIs to prevent any injuries before the IPL,” Sehwag was as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Meanwhile, Hardik, had earlier confirmed that he will likely be bowling within the limited-over collection.”It’s been almost one and half months since I have been preparing in this format – it’s going to be important with the World T20 coming up. You will see me bowling in this series. The kind of depth we have now, we can express ourselves pretty well, I have always played situations in my life – will do whatever the team requires, but think I can play freely. It’s going to be a cracker of a series with the kind of depth they have. But T20 is such a format where things can change any time in the match,” Hardik stated forward of the primary T20I in opposition to England in Ahmedabad.
This isn’t the primary time Sehwag has not agreed with Kohli on cricketing equations. After the conclusion of the first T20I in Ahmedabad, the previous India opener had questioned Kohli’s choice to depart out Rohit Sharma from the enjoying XI.
“Virat Kohli said that Rohit Sharma will not play a couple of matches, but if India keep losing games will the team still stick with the same stratergy. A defeat brings in a lot of changes in a team, if I would have been the captain then I would have fielded the best playing XI,” Sehwag stated throughout a digital interplay on Cricbuzz reside.
