Virender Sehwag Takes Dig At Virat Kohli's Habit of Changing Playing XIs, Says Manish Pandey Likely To Replace Samson For 3rd T20I

Taking a dig at Virat Kohli’s knack of tinkering with the playing eleven on a consistent basis, former India opener Virender Sehwag has said Manish Pandey might replace Sanju Samson in India’s playing eleven for the upcoming third T20I against Australia.

With the series already in the pocket, India have the luxury of resting some players and giving chances to some. During the second T20I, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Mayank Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal were on the bench. Manish Pandey missed the action because of a minor elbow niggle.

After warming the bench throughout the ODI series, Pandey was included in the playing eleven for the first T20I where he managed to score just 2. It will be interesting to see whether he gets the chance in the upcoming game. Virender Sehwag believes that India should play the third game without making any change.

At the same time, he also acknowledged Kohli’s knack of constantly changing the eleven and said that if India indeed make any change in the playing eleven, Samson is likely to be replaced by Pandey.

“I don’t think there is a need to make forced changes. But they may want to play Manish Pandey if he is fit, but for whom will they play him.

“I can see only one candidate, Sanju Samson has had two games and he has not scored runs. Virat Kohli has the habit of making changes after two games, so it is possible he could be the one,” Virender Sehwag said during the discussion on Sony Ten Network.

Kaif against dropping of Sanju Samson:

Meanwhile, former India batsman Mohammad Kaif is against the dropping of Sanju Samson. The former cricketer is of the opinion that Samson looked good during his short stay on the crease in the previous games and should get an extended run.

“According to me, we have won the series. He has got two innings and in the first T20I, Sanju Samson was looking good. It felt like he could score runs. And he has the X-factor, he has the ability to hit sixes. Yes, he is frittering away his chances. He is new and will get more chances although he has not grasped his chances, like Natarajan has done. That has not happened with Sanju Samson but I feel he should get more chance,” Kaif said.

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Also Read: Watch: Me Too Says Virat Kohli As Fans Come Up With Banners Of ‘Miss You Dhoni’