IND vs NZ: 3 Senior Indian Players Who Might Be Benched Against New Zealand ICC T20 World Cup Warm Up Match

India will lock horns against New Zealand in their final warm-up match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 on October 19 before facing Pakistan in their tournament opener on October 23.

Prior to that, Rohit Sharma and Co square off against defending champions Australia in the first official ICC T20 World Cup 2022 warm-up match on Monday, October 17. The Men in Blue played two unofficial warm-up games against the Western Australia XI, winning one and losing one.

Ahead of the fixture against the Kiwis, let’s take a look at three senior players who might be rested before India kickstarts their campaign in the showpiece event.

IND vs NZ: 3 Senior Indian Players Who Might Be Benched Against New Zealand ICC T20 World Cup Warm-Up Match

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will now shoulder the responsibility of leading the bowling attack in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. He is lethal with the new bowl as he can swing the bowl both ways, creating problems for the batters at the top.

He is India’s top wicket-taker in this format this year. However, his death bowling is a concern, so he may be rested for the game against Australia. He picked 1 wicket in 2 games against Australia at an average of 91.0 and an economy of 13.0. He was a little costly in the series. However, he has shown good form this year, winning the player of the series award multiple times.

Dinesh Karthik

India has three specialist spinners (Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, and Ravichandran Ashwin) and a part-timer in Deepak Hooda in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 squad. The Men in Blue are likely to play two specialists, but which two is unsure.

Yuzvendra Chahal has been consistent with his bowling performance this year and the team can’t drop him in the opening clash. Axar Patel won the man of the series award in the recent T20I series against Australia, grabbing 8 wickets in 3 games.

Moreover, since Yuzvendra Chahal is a right-arm spinner, the team might go ahead with a left-arm spinner like Axar Patel as the other spinner in the clash against Pakistan. Ravichandran Ashwin who didn’t pick a wicket in 3 T20Is against Proteas in his last T20I series will warm the bench against Australia in the warm-up game. He picked up 3 wickets in the 2nd warm-up game against Western Australia XI averaging 10.67.