Dharamsala, Oct 21 (UNI) India Head Coach Rahul Dravid gave a glimpse into probable replacements for injured Hardik Pandya for tomorrow’s match against New Zealand.
“Obviously, with Hardik not being there and Hardik being one of those four seamers, we’ll just have to see which combination we can go with. We certainly can go with, obviously, the three fast bowlers or the three spinners. With that kind of combination, we still could play him and Ash and move Jadeja up.
“But yeah, I think there are different, different combinations we could come up with. Obviously the three seamers, having someone like Shami sitting out there and bringing him in this game is a great option. In some cases, there is Ashwin who has obviously been sitting out, who has great quality as well. So, there are two or three combinations we could use considering this till Hardik gets back,” he told reporters on the eve of India-NZ match here.
Hardik has injured his left ankle while bowling in the last match against Bangladesh in Pune and is currently under supervision of the BCCI medical team at National Cricket Academy.
“Yeah, obviously, is an important player for us and he is an important all-rounder so it helps us balance our squad out really well. But he is going to be missing this game, so we will have to work around that and see what is the best combination and what we can come up with best …,” Dravid said.
Dravid also hinted at Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan getting a game.
“I mean, it is nice to have Ishan. And like you said, rightly, he’s been playing well. He’s a left-hander. But again, Surya has also come into some great form against Australia, as we saw. Played a couple of fantastic innings. Absolutely fantastic player against spin, as we know. Left arm spin or off spin, or any kind of spin, for that matter.
“And plus, the role may be for a middle over role – so we will just have to see which one we want – we are pretty clear about the kind of roles that people can play. So, if you are looking for someone who might be a bit of an enforcer for us in the lower middle order, then Surya is certainly someone who can do that. If you are looking for someone a little bit higher up the order, then maybe we might go with Ishan.
“So, it just depends on what we are looking at,” he said.
