Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
'If we play both together, it will benefit India': Zaheer proposes unique XI combination; 'Can Jadeja bat at no.6?'
Former India bowler Zaheer Khan suggested a unique playing XI combination after India's loss in the South Africa ODIs.
Team India faced a devastating 0-3 defeat to South Africa in the ODI series which concluded on Sunday. The KL Rahul-led side produced an indifferent performance for a large part of the series but had a good opportunity to finish the tour with a win in Cape Town; however, the side fell short by merely 4 runs to concede a clean sweep.
Deepak Chahar produced a brilliant all-round performance in the final ODI, as he took two wickets and also scored an important 54 off only 34 deliveries to bring India back in the game. Chahar's performances came after Shardul Thakur also displayed his batting skills during the first two games of the series, scoring an unbeaten 50 and an unbeaten 40 in Paarl.
Former Indian bowler Zaheer Khan, talking about the duo's all-round contributions, proposed that the Indian team management should find a way of playing both Chahar and Shardul in the same XI.
“Whenever he (Deepak Chahar) got the opportunity, he has performed. He batted with brilliant strike rate as well (in the final ODI). There was a time during his innings when we needed run-a-ball, the way he ran doubles at a consistent rate deserves appreciation. He played according to the situation in the game. He had planned his innings. And we've seen this before as well,” said Zaheer on Cricbuzz.
“It's a big positive. It's not as if he has done this only once. He has done it again. Even if we talk about Shardul, he deserves appreciation as well. Shardul has also batted efficiently.”
Zaheer further said that India should accommodate both players in the XI even when Ravindra Jadeja returns to the XI.
“There could also be an option of both playing together. If it happens, it will be an added advantage because right now, we're looking at sixth bowling option. When Ravindra Jadeja returns, can he bat at number 6? Considering that, if we play both together, it will benefit India and we can go forward thinking about this. In future when we play many big series, I think you can play both together in the playing XI and think about using them both because both have played efficiently,” said Zaheer.
