No place for Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav to replace Mohammed Siraj: Ex-pacer reveals changes to India XI ahead of T20 WC Super 8s

Former India pacer Varun Aaron spoke about the possibility of getting Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI for the game against Canada in the ongoing T20 World Cup. He believes that a wrist-spinner might get a chance because Hardik Pandya is performing the role of third pacer pretty well.

India have qualified for the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. They won three out of their three games in the tournament. They so far played all their games at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, where pacers played a huge role.

Coming into the T20 World Cup 2024, it was expected that Kuldeep Yadav would play all the games because the wrist-spinner was in staggering touch in IPL. But the conditions didn't allow him to play the matches as India went with three pacers at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Now with India moving to Florida for their next game and then the Caribbean for the Super 8 stage, there are high chances that Kuldeep Yadav might find a place in the team. The pitches in Florida as well as the Carribean offer great help to spinners and Kuldeep Yadav could be handy for the team.

Varun Aaron believes that Kuldeep Yadav might get a chance to play and might play in place of Mohammed Siraj. He added that the presence of Hardik Pandya in the team allows the team to play an extra spinner in the team. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he explained:

"I think they might give Kuldeep a game. We're talking about giving Sanju Samson a game as well. I think between the two, Kuldeep is more favourable to get a game because they would definitely need his services in the West Indies, especially with the way Hardik Pandya is bowling, he could easily slot in as a third seamer, giving India that extra option to play a spinner in this game as well.

"So we see Kuldeep coming in instead of Siraj, not Arshdeep because Arshdeep is bowling really well at the moment. Could there also be a case of resting Bumrah for this one and let both Arshdeep and Siraj play? I don't think so, because Bumrah is in really good form and when you are in good form as a bowler and when you don't have any niggles, you would just want to keep playing and that's what we see in any big tournament."

I don't see Sanju Samson getting a look in - Varun Aaron

Varun Aaron also talked about the possibility of Sanju Samson getting a game. He claimed that the keeper-batter won't be getting a chance because there's no space in the team. He highlighted how the middle-order batters haven't got enough game time. He added:

"I mean IPL is a great example. Some of the teams have easily qualified but they don't take a rest, the big players don't take a rest because they want to take that momentum into the important stage of the tournament. The other name you mentioned is Sanju Samson, do you expect him to get a look in and if so, who does he replace?

"I don't see Sanju Samson getting a look in, that's because who is he going to replace? A lot of the middle order hasn't gotten enough game time, enough balls in the middle, so there's definitely going to be no change in the batting order I would say because a lot of the batsmen, especially playing in New York with tricky conditions like that, must be dying to go out and have a decent knock on a better wicket."

India will now be seen in action when they will take on Canada in their last league game on 15th July.