New Zealand vs India: Sunil Gavaskar dissects the reason for Vijay Shankar's selection in the first T20I

Gavaskar isn't much perturbed with the heavy loss in the series opener.

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Vijay Shankar
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Vijay Shankar. (Photo by Kerry Marshall/Getty Images)

It came as quite a surprise when India decided to play three all-rounders in the eleven in the first T20I against New Zealand. The idea was to have the depth in the batting to possibly put up a big total or chase down huge targets as Rohit Sharma said. However, it didn’t work out well as the bowling department got extremely weakened.

The plan backfired and India was handed over their biggest defeat in T20I cricket in terms of runs. There was some criticism that was raised after the loss with regards to the team selection. There were thoughts that India should have played only two keepers or only two all-rounders. However, Sunil Gavaskar backed the decision of the Indian skipper to field Vijay Shankar in the eleven.

Maybe the World Cup 2019 is on the back of the minds

“No, I don’t think so [missed a trick with the playing XI]. It was the first match of the T20I series. You’re trying to sort of assess the strengths and weaknesses of not just your team but also your opposition. I wouldn’t be too worried about it. T20I can be very unpredictable. The best of teams can lose on the day,” the former captain said as quoted by Times Now.

Sunil Gavaskar also said that he isn’t worried much about the result. He noted that the World Cup 2019 is not far away. Hence, he opined that the team is experimenting with a few players. Gavaskar also elaborated that the management and Rohit Sharma decided to promote Vijay Shankar in the batting order for the same reason.

“I think what India is looking at with this T20I how maybe some of the players can be looked at for the 50-over World Cup, which is a couple of month’s time. So maybe that’s the reason why Vijay Shankar got the promotion. So if the team is looking to experiment at this stage, I won’t be worried too much about the result,” he further added.

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