Overview:
The right-arm speedster was spot on in the campaign opener, and it was his bowling that allowed the Men in Blue to put the USA on the back foot from the start.
Mohammed Siraj, who took three wickets in the first match against the USA, was dropped for the second game against Namibia on February 12 in Delhi. Siraj was not given a chance to include Jasprit Bumrah in the playing XI at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Bumrah was unwell in the Wankhede clash, and Hyderabad-based pacer replaced him. Bumrah, who recovered from a fever, took his spot back.
Siraj was not in the original squad, but an injury to Harshit Rana forced the selectors to recall him. He was not a part of the T20I team for a long time, but his performance in domestic cricket was enough to convince the national selectors.
The right-arm speedster was spot on in the campaign opener, and it was his bowling that allowed the Men in Blue to put the USA on the back foot from the start.
“We are happy to bat first. There are two changes in the playing XI. Abhishek is unwell and will take a game or two to recover. Sanju Samson is playing. Bumrah has replaced Siraj,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
India: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.
Namibia: 1 Louren Steenkamp, 2 Jan Frylinck, 3 Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 4 Gerhard Erasmus (capt), 5 JJ Smit, 6 Zane Green (wk), 7 Ruben Trumpelmann, 8 Malan Kruger, 9 Bernard Scholtz, 10 Ben Shikongo, 11 Max Heingo