The Indian cricket team will be playing 3 T20Is against England starting today after losing the fifth rescheduled test match which was played at Edgbaston by 7 wickets. As the Patuadi Trophy series ended in a tie, i.e., 2-2, the trophy was retained by England and now it is turn of the visitors to make an impact in the shortest format. India will play 3 T20Is and the same number of ODIs against England after which the Indian squad will be touring West Indies where it will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is starting from July 22.
The veteran Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the team as the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has rested the skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant. Ravindra Jadeja has been named as the vice-captain of the team and the selection committee has also selected Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan for the West Indies tour.
Rohit Sharma didn’t play the fifth rescheduled test match as he was suffering from COVID-19 but he will be back in the first T20I against England which will be played today at Rose Bowl (Ageas Bowl) Cricket Ground, Hampshire. The Indian team which will play in the first T20I will be the same which played the second T20I against Ireland but the squad will change from the second T20 as Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, etc. will be back in the team.
Resting Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma hasn’t gone well with few former cricketers as they both are out of the form for a long time and in their opinions, resting these two won’t be of any benefit to them. The former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan took to the micro-blogging site Twitter and made a cryptic tweet as he wrote, “No one comes back to form while resting…”
No one comes back to form while resting…
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 6, 2022
Though Irfan Pathan did not take anybody’s name but it was very easy to understand about whom he was talking.
Rohit Sharma was completely out of form in the IPL 2022, then he was rested for the South Africa series and he also missed out of the fifth rescheduled test match. Only time will tell whether Hitman will regain his lost touch in the short format series against England or not.
As far as Virat Kohli is concerned, though he played a couple of good innings in the IPL 2022 yet we can’t ignore that he also got out for golden duck three times in the tournament and in the fifth rescheduled test match, he once again failed to make an impact with bat. In fact, Virat Kohli was also slammed for his on-field behaviour by many cricketing experts and former cricketers.
What is your opinion in this regard? Do you agree with Irfan Pathan?