National selectors face tricky call on Nehra for NZ T20Is
MUMBAI: The national selectors, under fire from former India captain Sunil Gavaskar over the selection of Ashish Nehra, will have to take the tricky call on the retiring left-arm pacer while picking the side for the three Twenty20s against New Zealand when they meet here on Monday morning.
With most of their teams winning in every format there is not much tinkering to be done in the squad composition but the tough call for the MSK Prasad-led committee will be on Nehra’s selection. The 38-year-old pacer has expressed his wish to play the opening T20 in New Delhi on November 1 and retire at his homeground. Gavaskar has said the selection should not be on emotional reasons, but purely on merit.
TRICKY DECISION
To fit in Nehra, India will have to drop Jasprit Bumrah or Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both in good rhythm, from the playing eleven.
India shared the T20 series with Australia 1-1 and there is a thought that the selectors should use the platform to experiment with new faces as there is not much context to the bilateral series against the Kiwis.
It remains to be seen whether middle-order batsmen Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey retain their places ahead of the experienced Suresh Raina.
VIJAY VS ABHINAV
The team for the three Tests against Sri Lanka will also be picked, where the selectors will have to take a call on the opening combination. They will have to choose between Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund. Abhinav was the reserve opener in the last series against Sri Lanka which Vijay missed due to injury.