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'The biggest match winner in Indian white ball team': Ex-BCCI selector hails 27-year-old as an 'incredible addition'
India have got a good look at a few all-round options in white-ball cricket over the past few years, with even tail-enders like Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar playing prominent roles with the bat.
India are going through a good patch of form in white-ball cricket away from home. They beat the mighty England in both ODIs and T20Is at their own backyard and are now one win away from a first-ever ODI cleansweep in the West Indies and had steamrolled Ireland in a two-match T20I series before the England series. A common in all these wins have been the role that all-rounders have played.
Hardik Pandya has been at the forefront of this, having put in some extraordinary performances with bat and ball in England. Axar Patel, showed his batting skills by leading India to victory with just two wickets and two balls to spare in the second ODI against the West Indies.
Deepak Hooda, meanwhile, became the fifth Indian to score a century in T20 internationals during the Ireland series and has made a genuine case to be part of the Indian team that goes to the T20 World Cup. Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has said that the 27-year-old might just be India's biggest match-winner in limited overs cricket, considering he is also a capable spinner.
"For me, Deepak Hooda is currently the biggest match-winner in the Indian white-ball team. He is turning out to be an incredible addition to the team and believes that he can contribute as an all-rounder. He is bowling with same confidence as he did in the IPL and is keen on getting better," said Karim on India News.
Karim, who is also a former selector, said that the emergence of the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar and even Deepak Chahar as bowling all-rounders is a good trend for India. "Bowling all-rounders like Jadeja, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar have worked on their batting. So players have started to realize that to make their place in the Indian team, they need to add more to their repertoire. Specialist bowlers like (Jasprit) Bumrah have also worked hard on their batting," he said.
