‘He’ll be one of the trumps cards’ – Gavaskar feels India star will be integral to Rohit’s T20 WC plans

Team India is busy finalising their combination for the 2022 T20 World Cup, set to be held in Australia later this year. Before the marquee tournament, India still have to play plenty of series as they can tinker with their team combination in order to finalise their ideal XI. 

A second-stringed Rishabh Pant-led Indian team recently played South Africa in a five-match T20I series at home, which ended in a 2-2 stalemate with the final match being abandoned due to persistent rain in Bengaluru on June 19. Despite a disappointing end to the series, India had plenty of positives with the form and performances of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

After the series, Little Master Sunil Gavaskar mentioned a star player who could be one of Rohit Sharma’s trump cards in the forthcoming T20 World Cup Down Under. Gavaskar hailed Harshal Patel as the fast-bowling all-rounder who impressed bowling in tough situations in the SA series and returned with seven wickets in four innings at 12.57 and an economy rate of 7.23. He was, thus, the highest wicket-taker in the series.

Thus, Gavaskar told Star Sports, “He will be one of the trumps cards because you have Bhuvneshwar, Shami and Bumrah as well. Brilliant for a skipper to have someone like him to depend on, He can come in and bowl may be even in the powerplay where people are now going with change of pace. So yes he certainly should be part of the group.”

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Former SA captain Graeme Smith, who was also part of the same panel, agreed with Gavaskar and added, “He has been excellent. Nobody skills in the death overs with the slower balls…but I feel from game 3 he found his right length and picked up wickets and kept the pressure on the South Africans. He has all the skills as an all-rounder bowler and is a big asset to the team and handles pressure very well and is a clear thinker under pressure.”

Harshal will next be seen in action in India’s two-match T20I series versus Ireland, in Dublin, on June 26 and 28.