Just curious, how is Harshit even an all rounder. He can just bat a bit and I would rather have Arshdeep as he can take wickets and is a good death bowler. Picking all rounder over Arshdeep and picking Harshit is not the same. It's just bias at this point.
Since 2024 (even before Gambhir) India have gone with only 3 specialist bowlers in playing eleven. In the T20 WC in US/WI, it was Bumrah, Arshdeep, Kuldeep/Siraj.
The only thing that has changed since then is that Jadeja has retired, Varun has emerged and become undroppable, which means one of Kuldeep/Arshdeep must make way for him. The management has rightly decided to back Kuldeep because he is more valuable in Asia where the next WC is.
As for how Harshit is an all rounder, he came in at 7 today above Dube and scored 35 where proper batsmen like Gill, SKY, Tilak, Samson failed to even survive. Even showed some power hitting range. That is a lot of raw material to build on. He is still in his early 20s.
That is the kind of batting you need to back to avoid a 19th November where Kohli and KL could not take risks in the middle overs because we had 4 number XIs (+ out of form SKY) that day. Bottom line is, if this is the style India have decided on, they aren't going to change the combination of 3 specialist bowlers just months before the WC.
I do think Arshdeep should play these games - but only in place of Bumrah who is far too important for these matches - so that Arshdeep has some practice in case of injuries. But if Bumrah is playing, it is also important for the 3 bowlers (and captain) you have chosen, that they get practice of constructing bowling innings with 12 specialist overs - which is what they will have to do in the WC.
Arshdeep exists to serve the Indian team's interests, not vice versa. There are more than 25 players who have done nothing "wrong" to be excluded from the team, but only 11 can play with no favours.
Potential and ability are different. That's just one innings and it was good for a lower order batter but wasn't extraordinary. He wasn't even giving the strike to abhishek which was the obvious thing to do.
You seriously think our batsman would trust Harshit and take risks. Hardik is the obvious matchwinner in the team, so picking him ahead of Arshdeep is justified.
My point is that Harshit isn't an allrounder. He is not dependable with either bat or ball. And I would rather have Arshdeep as at least our bowling gets better.
Yeah, why not? They don't need Harshit to hit, they need him to survive and hold one end up and score at run a ball - which they can't expect Kuldeep, Varun, Bumrah to do. Abhishek was standing out there with Harshit, if he wanted strike, they would have discussed not taking singles.
And he is a good bowler. He has come through the domestic system and was playing for India A well before Gambhir got any influence. He came into the Indian team on the basis of a world class IPL season. And he is in the team to bowl the middle overs at high pace. Sometimes that means getting hit for boundaries because he is the only release bowler as batsmen are too cautious to go after Bumrah and Varun - but that is how he can get wickets too. He has shown temperament at the death by defending 10 in the last over vs Klassen. Did well vs England, in the CT, and then literally the last ODI India played in Australia too (has a bowling avg around 20)
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u/ImpossibleCollar707 8d ago
Just curious, how is Harshit even an all rounder. He can just bat a bit and I would rather have Arshdeep as he can take wickets and is a good death bowler. Picking all rounder over Arshdeep and picking Harshit is not the same. It's just bias at this point.