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‘This is real competition and Avesh Khan is slightly behind’: Sanjay Manjrekar on seamer's chances for T20 World Cup
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be seen leading a young pack of pace bowlers in the upcoming Asia Cup, with senior pro Mohammed Shami not picked and Jasprit Bumrah injured.
After producing fine performances in the limited-over series against England, Ireland and West Indies, Team India will hope for a similar show in the upcoming Asia Cup, which gets underway from August 27. Jasprit Bumrah is not part of the team that will fly to UAE for the tournament as he is currently dealing with a back injury. Senior pro Mohammed Shami too has not been considered for the continental tournament and in their absence Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be seen leading a young pack of pace bowlers.
Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be assisting Bhuvneshwar in the seam department. Deepak Chahar, who recently returned to action following an injury, will also travel with the squad but chances of him playing are very unlikely as he is one of the three reserved players.
While the focus remains on the entire team, it will be interesting to see how young Arshdeep and Avesh, who will be playing their first Asia Cup, handle the pressure, especially against arch rivals Pakistan.
Sharing his thoughts on the two youngsters, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar considers Arshdeep to be a better option and feels he has taken Avesh to be part of India's T20 World Cup squad, which will be played in Australia in October-November this year.
"There is actually a nice race going for that flight to Australia to get that seat in business class. You know these guys travel business class. We used to be in economy, so I say that very sort of grudgingly. So, a race is going on to get those seats on business class to Australia. And that's where I think you would have to say Arshdeep Singh has overtaken Avesh Khan," opined Manjrekar on SPORTS18 show 'SPORTS OVER THE TOP'.
"Avesh Khan is slightly behind there and that is something very interesting. You know this is a real competition going on for spots. Arshdeep Singh has certainly taken a little lead over Avesh Khan because he's doing exactly what Avesh Khan's role is - to go with the new ball in the middle and in the death as well,"the ex-India batter added.
