Shreyas Iyer And Co Forced To Bench Kuldeep Yadav In 3rd T20I vs West Indies? Ex-India Star Explains

Former India opener Aakash Chopra weighed in on India's team combination for the third T20I against the West Indies, explaining why the hosts opted to play three specialist fast bowlers. The decision paid off as India registered a 14-run victory in Indore and moved ahead 2-1 in the five-match series. Batting first, India amassed 223 runs in 20 overs, thanks largely to a blistering 69 off 30 deliveries from opener Abhishek Sharma. Chasing 224, the West Indies remained in contention through knocks from Kamil Pooran (42) and Shimron Hetmyer (43), but eventually finished on 209/7.

India's playing XI featured Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, and Mayank Yadav as specialist pacers, while Nitish Kumar Reddy provided an additional fast-bowling option. According to Chopra, the team management opted for extra pace resources to ensure greater batting depth in the lower order.

"You will have to actually play a bowler that allows you to bowl at the top and the tail. If you go with only two pacers, it's going to be a problem in white-ball cricket. If you bowl two or three overs of Arshdeep Singh at the top, you have the temptation at times to take one more wicket if two wickets have fallen, then you know you will have nothing at the back end," Chopra said on Star Sports.

"Mayank Yadav is your new-ball bowler, mostly. However, you had to hold back his overs as well because you had only two fast bowlers, but now, when you have Prince Yadav, somebody who is almost like a specialist in the death overs, with the reverse swing and the yorkers, it gives you a bit more options. Nitish Kumar Reddy is a utility bowler, and Naman Dhir is growing in stature," he added.

The selection of Prince Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy came at the expense of spinner Kuldeep Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube. Chopra felt that India's pace attack lacked a bowler capable of offering reliable batting support at No. 8, a factor that ultimately contributed to Kuldeep being left out of the side.

"The fact is that because none of your three fast bowlers can bat at No. 8, you end up compromising Kuldeep Yadav. If Harshit Rana was playing, or Deepak Chahar or Shardul Thakur were playing, if there was a bowler like that who could give you batting, you could have played Kuldeep as well," he said.

"Kuldeep would have been very useful today (Sunday). There was no dew today. Roston Chase was the pick of the bowlers. The spinners have done well. So that one thing will remain for sure, because our fast bowlers are not batting," he added.

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