Avesh Khan had an ODI debut to forget for India with the ball as he gave away 54 runs in his six overs in the second game against the West Indies at Port of Spain on Sunday (July 24).
Avesh has a List A bowling average of 50.17 with just 17 wickets from 22 games. Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Krishna was replaced by the Madhya Pradesh pacer in the playing XI rather than the in-form Arshdeep Singh.
The 25-year-old was expected to bring some control into the attack. However, he strayed from his strength of hitting hard lengths and sometimes provided 'hit-me' deliveries.
Arshdeep bowled really well on his T20I debut and there have been no reports of him still struggling with an abdominal strain. This made some fans troll the management for once again ignoring Arshdeep, this time for Avesh Khan.
Here are some of the reactions:
Kyle Mayers takes Avesh Khan to the cleaners as West Indies post competitive total
Avesh Khan has had quite a bit of experience playing domestically in the IPL as well as a few T20Is for India. However, ODIs are a completely different ball game and perhaps he was a tad nervous.
West Indies opener Kyle Mayers took full advantage of Avesh's inconsistent line and length as the southpaw got the hosts off to a fantastic start. He looked good for his 39, but was caught-and-bowled by part-timer Deepak Hooda.
Shamarh Brooks joined Shai Hope at the crease and ensured that West Indies didn't lose the momentum Mayers gave them in their innings. But he, too, failed to convert his start into a big score. Brandon King soon departed for a duck and it looked like the visitors would come storming back into the game.
However, skipper Nicolas Pooran played a scintillating knock of 74. He provided the ideal foil to Hope as the latter went on to score an important hundred in his 100th ODI.
Although India clinched a few wickets towards the back end, the hosts will be delighted to have posted 311/6 in their 50 overs. The visitors do have the batting to chase down the target, but a couple of early wickets might put the men from the Caribbean in the driver's seat.
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