Salman Butt takes shot at Hardik Pandya's 'India can field three different teams' comment

A look at how India kept senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli on the bench in the three-match ODI series against West Indies and rested them for the ongoing five-match T20I series makes it very clear that changes are afoot in the team, at least in the shortest format.

The reason given for not playing Kohli and Rohit in the second and third ODI was to let the squad players have a crack at the game before the all-important World Cup later this year. But in the T20Is the star players haven’t featured at all this year. Rohit’s last T20I was the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final. This has brought about speculations that the Men in Blue are in for a major transition in the shortest format.

The experimentation has not been without any price. The team lost the first two T20Is and got back in the series by winning the third match.

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This has made the team management attract the ire of fans and experts alike, who would have the team go in the games with their best foot forward.

Former Pakistan batter Salman Butt is one of those not liking the rapid changes and especially in reference to Hardik Pandya’s 2021 comments that India can field three different teams and still come out on top. This, the Pakistani believes, may reflect talent but compromises on quality.

“It’s not an ideal combination when their key players are not playing. If Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rohit Sharma are not playing, if their experienced players are missing, it’s not the same thing. They say they can make three different teams. Yes, talent pool and exposure is there, but the quality without their key players shows that the team cannot perform at the same level,” said the former Pakistan skipper on his YouTube channel.

“Senior players carry their weight, their experience makes a difference on the opposition as well.”

While Kohli and Rohit may no longer be the mainstays in the shortest format, the headliner pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who’s been out since last September due to a back injury, is slated to come back in the upcoming Ireland T20I series, which starts 18 August.

The pacer, whose seven years career is mired with injuries, will not just join back but will do so as the captain in the three-match bilateral series.