Harbhajan Singh says India should stick with the same playing XI

After defeating Pakistan by 124 runs in their opening match of Champions Trophy 2017, India takes on Sri Lanka on Thursday (8^th June) at The Oval, London. The Indian team will look to repeat the performance against Sri Lanka and fix their spot for the knockout stage. A win against Sri Lanka will ensure them a place in semi-finals.

Harbhajan Singh’s take on the playing XI:

Indian off-break bowler, Harbhajan Singh believes that Indian team should step on the field with the same eleven and shouldn’t tinker with any player. Also, he lauded India’s lethal bowling attack and whopping performance of India’s batsmen.

He told India Today, “This team is definitely playing like champions and they showed it in their first game. We have all spoken about how the Pakistani’s are not as good as India but let’s just talk about how good we were”.

He even praised Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma for providing a platform for the coming batsmen and even hailed Yuvraj Singh’s performance with the bat.

“Too happy to see Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma scoring runs, and of course, I was so happy to see Yuvraj Singh batting out there and the way he hit those shots it’s just amazing to see. When Yuvraj gets going it’s impossible to stop him,” Harbhajan Singh said.

Having an experience of over 18 years of International Cricket and played quite a few on English wickets, he further praised the present Indian bowling attack saying, “The bowling unit was fantastic from the first ball itself. From the seamers to spinners everything went in our favor but by working hard. We made it happen.”

The 36-year-old believes that Hardik Pandya deserves a slot over Ravichandran Ashwin the second game.

Bhajji said, “I would play with the same XI because everyone played really well against Pakistan including Hardik Pandya. He gives you so much with the bat, bowl and with his fielding, he’s electric. He’s feeding of Virat’s energy on the field. He’s someone who looks forward to the challenges and I think he should play.”

“The same XI gives us more batting and bowling options with Pandya and one spinner Ravindra Jadeja. And if at all we have to bowl another spinner then don’t forget the golden arm of Yuvraj Singh,” he added.

Harbhajan Singh underrated the present Sri Lankan team and concluded by saying “The only thing that can stop Indian team is the rain, so I want the rain to stay away and we get to play 100 overs.

“If we do have a full game then I don’t think this Sri Lankan team has that much in them to beat India. They have a couple of good individual players in Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Upul Tharanga but as a team, I don’t rate them too highly,” he told.