‘He Walks Straight Into India’s Starting XI’-Piyush Chawla Names The Player Who Will Be The First Choice In The Indian T20 XI

Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla thinks that Suryakumar Yadav will not only play in the T20 World Cup but will also “walk into” the starting XI. Chawla was talking after Team India’s batter made a superb hundred in the third T20I against England on Sunday, July 10 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

Suryakumar scared the hosts when he hit 117 runs off just 55 balls while his team was trying to chase down the target of 216 runs. He hit 14 fours and four sixes. Even though he was great, India lost the game by 17 runs because the other batters didn’t help as much as they should have.

After the third T20I, Chawla was asked if Suryakumar had made sure he would play in the T20 World Cup in Australia. In answer, the 33-year-old told ESPNcricinfo:

“100 percent (he will be part of the T20 World Cup squad). We all know how good he is in the middle. He can also help you with the opening. He can also be the finisher for you. He definitely walks right into the starting XI.”

Suryakumar is only the fifth Indian to score a hundred in a T20I. He did it on Sunday. The only other Indians with T20I hundreds are Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Deepak Hooda.

“We can see the old Bhuvi back,” said Piyush Chawla about the good things that came out of the T20I series for India.

Team India lost the third T20I in Nottingham, which had a lot of runs, but they won the series by a score of 2-1 because they had easily won the first two matches.

Chawla thought about what India could learn from the series and said:

“We can see that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back to his old self. From India’s point of view, the way he bowled and how he moved the ball was one of the best things going into the World Cup.”

Bhuvneshwar was named “Player of the Series” because he took four wickets in two games with an average of 6.25 and an economy rate of 4.16.

Chawla also discussed India’s choice to have Rishabh Pant for the opening spot. The leggie’s view was:

“India wants to see how Pant does at the top of the order. But if KL Rahul is healthy, I think he should join Rohit Sharma at the top right away.”

Pant looked out of sorts when he opened the innings. In the two games he played, he scored 26 and 1.