T20 World Cup 2021: Maninder Singh Feels Indian Team Selection Had Mistakes Which Opened Up After The Tournament Started

Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh mentioned that the mistakes in the T20 World cup for India started with the team selection and was quite critical of dropping experienced players. India lost two important games to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two matches of the T20 World cup 2021. India’s hopes have come down largely now, and they do not like progressing to the semi-finals.

India managed to produce a good comeback performance against Afghanistan by beating them convincingly in their third encounter in the T20 World cup 2021. They ended up winning the game by 66 runs, but it could be too late as they would have to hope that New Zealand loses one of their remaining games.

Maninder Singh Feels Hardik Should Not Play Until He Bowls

Maninder Singh mentioned that India should have gone in with three spinners and three medium-pacers for the game against New Zealand, which did not happen. He noted that he replaced Hardik with Shardul Thakur and believed that Hardik should play only if he bowls.

“R Ashwin was in my team (for the game against NZ). I had three spinners, and instead of Hardik Pandya, I had Shardul Thakur. Because if Hardik is not going to bowl, you cannot  play him. If the captain or the coach or anybody says that he’s good for the team just as a batsman as well, (that is) absolutely wrong,” Maninder Singh opined on his conversation with Times of India.

Maninder Singh Takes A Dig At Selectors

Maninder Singh wasn’t impressed with the team selection and questioned the exclusion of experienced players like Dhawan and Chahal while picking Ashwin for his experience.

“Mistakes have been made since the time the team has been selected… You brought in (selected) R Ashwin saying that he’s got the experience. At the same you drop two players who had the experience: Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal. So what you are saying and what you are thinking is not matching,” he added.

R Ashwin came up with an excellent performance in his first game in T20Is after a long time and finished with figures of 2 for 14.

Also Read – T20 World Cup 2021: Why Is R Ashwin Being Dropped For So Long? – Dilip Vengsarkar Reckons It Needs To Be