Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir wanted the Men in Blue to go with three out-and-out fast bowlers in their Asia Cup encounter against Nepal in Pallekele on Monday, September 4.
Jasprit Bumah has returned to India for the birth of his first child and was unavailable for the game against Nepal. This meant that they got the opportunity to bring Mohammed Shami into the playing XI in Bumrah's place.
However, Gautam Gambhir wanted the Men in Blue to play Prasidh Krishna as well potentially in place of Shardul Thakur and have a proper pace trio of Prasidh, Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
While Shardul Thakur gives India the batting depth, here's what Gambhir had to say on Star Sports about the team combination and the reasoning behind his opinion:
"Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna. I wanted to see three fast bowlers, three genuine fast bowlers and see how that combination comes. The most important thing is that we all know that what Shardul Thakur brings to the table. Yes, he can bowl one change, he can do a bit of batting at number eight. But yet they ocould have gone with Mohammed Shami and Prasidh Krishna in this game."
India's catching have let them down against Nepal
Rohit Sharma and Co. have been guilty of being a bit lethargic in the field so far as a number of misfields and dropped catches have given Nepal a chance of positing a challenging total.
While the Men in Blue have kept chipping away with wickets, the three dropped catches early on from Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli and Ishan Kishan are certainly not the precedent they would want to set.
Rain interruption has caused the play to stop at the time of writing with Nepal 178/6. They will look to get to the 250-run mark and put pressure on the opposition.
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