In another 10 days, the Indian cricket squad for the T20 World Cup will be known. The date to announce the provisional squad is May 1, which means that by the last week of April, the provisional T20 World Cup squad will be known. A recent report by news agency PTI said that the BCCI selectors may not go for too much experimentations and will be going for the tried and tested players. The report also mentioned 10 players – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya Suryakumar Yadav, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav – who are automatic choices.
However, there are spme doubts over the back-up opener’s role. The competition for that spot is between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. The report also mentions that if both are picked, then one among finishers Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh may miss out.
Shivam Dube has so far scored 245 in seven games at an average of 49 with a strike-rate of 157.05. Rinku Singh has scored 83 in 6 matches at a strike-rate of 162.75 and average of 27.67.
However, On Friday, Shivam Dube failed to strike it big and was dimissed for three off eight deliveries. The left-handed Dube tried to pull Marcus Stoinis from outside off but ended up slicing it high up in the air only for wicketkeeper KL Rahul to take a neat catch.
Irfan Pathan, member of India’s 2007 T20 World Cup team, pointed out that this was a flaw in Dube’s batting.
“That shot outside the off stump line I have been talking abt since long now. Finally a bowler use that against Dube,” Irfan Pathan posted.
That shot outside the off stump line I have been talking abt since long now. Finally a bowler use that against Dube.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 19, 2024
Talking about the match, Openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock, who made classy fifties on a slow pitch, produced a chasing masterclass to power Lucknow Super Giants to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match on Friday.
Asked to bat first, Ravindra Jadeja came up with a solid unbeaten 57 before Mooen Ali (30 off 20) and MS Dhoni (28 off 9) went on a six-hitting spree to take CSK to a fighting 176 for six.
In reply, Rahul (82) and De Kock (54) batted with authority during their match-winning alliance of 134, the highest partnership for any wicket at the Ekana Stadium, as LSG scored 180 for 2 in 19 overs to recover from back-to-back loss and consolidate their position in the table.
CSK, who came into the match with twin wins, on the other hand, slumped to their third loss in this IPL.
With PTI inputs
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