India picking Shardul Thakur over Mohammed Shami in 2nd ODI against New Zealand leaves Twitter baffled

India’s decision to play Shardul Thakur and not Mohammed Shami in the second ODI against New Zealand has sparked a debate on Twitter. While the experts and supporters expected that the Virat Kohli-led think tank would pick Navdeep Saini in the place of Thakur after the latter proved to be too expensive in the first match in Hamilton, he was eventually chosen to replace Shami, who has been in a good momentum. The social media went abuzz whether India fielded their best team in a game that they had to win to keep the three-match series alive.

Kohli said at the toss that Shami was rested for the match keeping in mind the upcoming Test series. The 29-year-old is one of India’s potent weapons in the long format and he is being used judiciously to prevent an early burn-out. But senior cricketers like Harbhajan Singh were not convinced with the decision.

Shardul Thakur scalped two wickets in the 2nd ODI

On the other hand, Thakur was tossed the ball to open the bowling innings in Auckland and he ended up with 2 for 60 in 10 overs. India made another change in their playing XI and it was picking Yuzvendra Chahal in the place of Kuldeep Yadav who also proved to be expensive in the first match. Chahal, who played in an ODI after six months, picked up three wickets for 58 runs.

In batting, Shardul failed to impress as he fell for only 18 off 15 balls and despite playing some good shots. But Saini, who made his international debut only in December, scored a counter-attacking 45 in only 49 balls to add 76 runs with Ravindra Jadeja for the eighth wicket.

India allowed the Black Caps to reach 273 for 8 in 50 overs despite having them at 197 for 8 in the 44th over. An unbeaten 76-run partnership between Ross Taylor (73 not out) and debutant Kylie Jamieson (25 not out) took them the challenging total.

The Twitterati at once found it disappointing and reactions started pouring in thick and fast. One user on the social media platform even said that India would never win a World Cup under the captaincy of Kohli because of the team they select.

Here are a few reactions: