3 Changes India should make to get back to winning ways in 2nd T20I against England

3) Deepak Chahar for Shardul Thakur

Deepak Chahar, who has been India’s first choice new-ball bowler in T20Is in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, was not picked in the first match against England. Shardul Thakur was chosen ahead of him, presumably for the runs which the Mumbai pacer can give batting down the order. 

But, Thakur bowled only two overs and was not trusted by the captain to open the bowling. He bowled only two overs, giving away 16 runs, and most importantly, didn’t pick up any wickets. Not getting regular strikes in the powerplay overs hurt India, something which England had done during their bowling, restricting to 20-3 in the fifth over.

Chahar is an expert at picking wickets early on in the powerplay, one of the reasons why he has been preferred over some other candidates. In the 63 T20 innings (IPL and T20I included) when Chahar has bowled in the powerplay, he has taken 42 wickets with an economy of 7.56. While Thakur has taken 17 wickets in 52 T20 innings, when he has bowled in the first six overs, with an economy of 9.025. Clearly, Chahar’s inclusion will do a lot more to the Indian bowling attack.