Asia Cup 2018: Ajit Agarkar picks Hardik Pandya's replacement in the Indian team

Team India has been jolted with an injury blow to Hardik Pandya who has now been ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup. The seam bowling all-rounder sustained an acute lower back injury after which he had to be stretchered off the ground in the game against Pakistan. Deepak Chahar has been named his replacement but even Ravindra Jadeja has been roped in into the squad who might play. However, Ajit Agarkar feels that they should pick the third seamer to lend the balance to the team’s combination.

With Pandya not playing, the Men in Blue enter into the Super Four stage with a little bit of instability to their line-up. If Jadeja plays, then they will be ideally fielding four spinners with Kedar Jadhav doing the job by rolling his arm over. Also, there is a chance of handing a debut to Deepak Chahar who is a seamer but his batting credentials at number seven are not clear.

Who will play?

Ajit Agarkar, however, opines that Rohit Sharma should select either of the three available seamers. Apart from Chahar, Siddarth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed are also in the squad and there is every chance that they would go in with three seam bowling options. However, there is also a temptation to play Jadeja who is an exceptional all-rounder and is fresh of a 90-run knock in England in the final Test at The Oval.

“Would India be brave enough to go in with six batsmen? Deepak Chahar has been added to the squad. I think he is more of a lower-order batsman. But I think you need three seamers to play unless you have the likes of Mujeeb Ur Rahman or Rashid Khan as spinners in your team. India already have two wrist spinners and Kedar Jadhav and in my opinion, they would go with three seamers,” Agarkar said while speaking to ESPN Cricinfo.

It will be interesting to see if Jadeja walks back straight into the XI as he has played his last ODI for India back in July 2017.

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