World Cup 2019: Mohammad Kaif is worried about Mayank Agarwal’s selection but still considers India as hot favorites

After their loss to hosts, England, the cricketing fraternity has already pounced on Virat Kohli’s men. With questions being raised about India’s tactics in the final overs of the innings, couple of players have also been trolled. Though the team environment seems to be strong as the skipper is backing the entire team. Just after the game, already injury-marred India was jolted with another injury news as Vijay Shankar hurt his toe.

Just a couple of weeks ago India lost Shikhar Dhawan to a thumb injury and the left-hander was swapped with the dynamic youngster, Rishabh Pant. Even the speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar was sidelined for 3 games. Injuries have been following Indian players and at the business end of the tournament.

Right from the start of 2019 World Cup Vijay Shankar has been a hot topic in the media for his selection in the team coupled with his injury scare in the nets. Before the blockbuster tie against Brits, he was replaced by Pant in the playing XI due to a toe injury. As it turned out the injury ended his dream of playing another World Cup.

Within hours the BCCI sought the approval of Shankar’s replacement and out of blue India picked Mayank Agarwal. He was impressive when India won the Test series Down Under. Most of the pundits have considered it as a good move but Mohammad Kaif is little worried about India’s latest recruit for his form and lack of match practice.

Kaif upbeat of India’s Cup triumph

According to the former Indian middle-order batsman, Mayank has not played competitive cricket since the early days of May. He was part of the Kings XI Punjab team which was eliminated in the group stages. Another valid point that he came up with was his lack of international experience in white-ball cricket. The right-hander is yet to make his ODI and T20I debut.

Talking to reporters when he was in Delhi for the Major League Baseball event, Kaif also talked about India’s needless panic after losing just a game against England. He further added that the team has enough back-ups for the rest of the tournament. They should think their loss against England as a minor hiccup.

“You have to see how many matches they have played regularly and whether they are in touch. It’s the same with Pant… He was last involved in a pressure game in May. Since then he has been part of only practice sessions in the UK. That is the only problem… They won’t be in touch with the conditions so much,” said Kaif.

“They’ve just lost one game and that’s fine. Any team can lose one game. India had a bad day and England played well. They are the tournament favourites, so this kind of performance is expected from them.”

As far as India is considered they have two more group fixtures against Asian teams to regain their momentum. They take on Bangladesh in Birmingham on the July 2 and if they win they will qualify for the semis. India can consider testing out Agarwal before the knock-out games as he has proved his mettle while opening the innings in red-ball cricket.