ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Virat Kohli hints about Indian playing XI ahead of the Pakistan game

What’s the story?

After beating Bangladesh by 240 runs in the second warm-up game, skipper Virat Kohli gave a hint about India’s possible playing combination ahead of their first match of the 2017 Champions Trophy against their arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 4.

Kohli praised Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav for their performances against Bangladesh and conceded that the team management is backing both these batsmen to do the job in the death overs, which means Hardik is certain to be in the playing XI.

He also admitted that they wanted to give Dinesh Karthik an extended run before the tournament and was happy with the way he batted against the Shakib-al-Hasan-led side.

When asked about the performance of the Indian batsmen in the post-match presentation, Kohli said, ”I am very pleased with the performance of our players. We got what we wanted in both the games. We back KedarJadhav and Hardik Pandya to do it for us down the order. Hardik was outstanding. Jadeja also played with composure. Dinesh is an outstanding player. We just wanted to give him an extended run. ”

Extra cover: India vs Bangladesh warm-up, 5 talking points

In case you didn’t know...

Earlier today, India beat Bangladesh by 240 runs, thanks to fifties from Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik backed up some fiery spell of fast bowling by the pacers. India scored 324 for the loss of seven wickets and in reply, Bangladesh were bundled out for just 84 runs.

Details

Virat Kohli is set to have some selection headaches going into the main tournament as all the four front-line fast bowlers look threatening. With Hardik set to play, it is likely that he will be taking the no. 7 spot and this means that there are just four spots left in the XI for which six frontline bowlers will be competing.

It is certain that Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja will feature in the playing XI. This makes R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami fight for the remaining two spots.

Extra cover: India's probable playing XI

What’s next?

India take on Pakistan in their first match of the tournament on June 4 followed by Sri Lanka and South Africa on June 8 and June 11 respectively. If India finishes in the top 2, they will qualify for the semi-finals that will be played on June 14 and 15.

Extra cover: Twitter trolls Bangladesh for their performance in the warm-up game against India

Author’s Take

With all due respect to Hardik Pandya’s batting might, his bowling could a concern for the team management. If he goes for runs, there is no proper back-up option as Kedar Jadhav and Yuvraj Singh are the only options available for Kohli to choose from.

So, the team management should go in with five front-line bowlers instead of trusting the likes of Pandya, Jadhav and Yuvraj as the fifth bowling option in a tournament that has a lot of stake in it.