India Shubman Gill during a practice session at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. File photo
| Photo Credit: ANI
Reserve opener Shubman Gill and speedster Avesh Khan are all set to be released from the Indian set-up after the team’s final T20 World Cup group league game against Ireland here on Saturday., June 15.
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It is understood that going into the Super Eights stage, the team management is pretty certain that they don’t need to carry four standbys and hence only designated finisher Rinku Singh and left-arm fast medium Khaleel Ahmed will accompany the team during the Caribbean leg of the tourney.
“Shubman and Avesh were supposed to only stay till the group league stages in the United States. That was pre-decided. So, after Ireland game, they will be released from the squad,” a senior BCCI source privy to the development told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The logic to release Gill and Avesh is pretty straightforward. In case there is any injury concerns for either skipper Rohit Sharma or star batter Virat Kohli, the team has Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad of 15, who can then come in.
There is no requirement of a fourth opener during the Super Eights. It has also been noted that Gill did not get a lot of batting time during the usual net sessions in New York.
Rinku, who has enjoyed a fair amount of net session, will accompany the team because of his dual utility — he is a finisher in the middle-order and can replace anyone who gets injured in that slot.
And with Rinku being a left-hander, he is a like-for-like replacement of Shivam Dube, if the latter’s military medium pacers are not factored in.
In the case of Avesh, the team is already playing three front-line pacers along with Hardik Pandya, and there is a fifth medium pacer in Dube in case of absolute emergency.
Also once the team reaches the Caribbean shores, there will hardly be any practice between Super Eights games as there is a short turnaround time, with the team travelling to the next island a day before the game.
If there are no net sessions, the need to have a net bowler isn’t necessary. The reason why Khaleel will be kept with the squad is because he is a left-arm pacer and in case there is some injury issues with Arshdeep, he can be the like-for-like substitute.
