Hardik Pandya cannot keep calm as brother Krunal was picked in the India T20I squad

Hardik Pandya might be on the road to recovery, but the Pandya factor will still remain intact in the Indian team after Krunal was picked for the T20Is. The selectors made a series of major announcements last night after picking as they picked the teams for the T20I series against Windies and Australia, as well as India’s Test squad for the 4 Tests Down Under. In the shortest format, Krunal Pandya has once again been called up after his consistent performances with both bat and ball.

Krunal, who plays alongside brother Hardik in the Mumbai Indians setup, has been an underrated cricketer. His all-round contributions were key to Mumbai’s journey to three IPL titles. Earlier this year, he delivered for India A during the tour of England. He has had a really good domestic season with Baroda as well. Pandya Sr. has the ability to muscle the ball batting lower down the order, and can also chip in with 4 overs of economic left-arm spin.

Krunal very likely to feature in playing XI

Hardik was stretchered off during the Asia Cup encounter against Pakistan and is yet to recover fully from his back injury, which actually boosts his brother Krunal’s chances of featuring in the playing XI during the Windies T20Is. He doesn’t have any competition as such for his place in the team since he remains the only established all-rounder to have been picked in the squad.

While Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav will remain the primary spin-bowling options for India, Krunal is likely to act as the direct replacement of his brother in the team. The more flamboyant Hardik congratulated his elder brother on being picked in the national team. He took to Twitter to say, “Congratulations on making it to the Indian team bro! Proud of you and love you, @krunalpandya24!”

Krunal is yet to make his international debut, and the three T20Is against the Windies would most likely see the 27-year-old don the blue jersey for the first time. Krunal was earlier called up as a back up for spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel during the T20I series in England.

India’s T20I sides for the next two series:

Vs Windies: Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem

Vs Australia: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit (VC), Shikhar, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed

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