India fast-bowler Shardul Thakur may have turned it around somewhat in T20Is but in ODIs, he hasn’t been up to the mark thus far. Shardul looked out-of-sorts in the first match in Hamilton and an argument can be made for his ouster from the playing XI for the second ODI of the three-match series at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
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Shardul conceded 80 runs in 9 overs in the first match and win an economy of 8.89, he was the most expensive bowler of the match. Also, he became the 1st Indian to concede 80 or more runs in an ODI against New Zealand despite bowling less than 10 overs.
In the 9 ODIs that he has played so far, six times his economy rate has been in excess of six. Hamilton ODI was the fifth consecutive match where his economy was above 6.50.
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Overall, Shardul has an economy rate of 6.81 in ODIs, which is the third-highest in 50-overs cricket by bowlers who have bowled 50 overs or more.
Navdeep Saini should be preferred over Shardul owing to his extra pace and the ability to pick up wickets both upfront with the new ball and then towards the end with his accurate yorkers. Not to forget his ability to bowl at the death, which provides another option to skipper Virat Kohli.
{{/usCountry}}Navdeep Saini should be preferred over Shardul owing to his extra pace and the ability to pick up wickets both upfront with the new ball and then towards the end with his accurate yorkers. Not to forget his ability to bowl at the death, which provides another option to skipper Virat Kohli.
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India’s predicted XI: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah