The team India management has opted to include all-rounder Shivam Dube in the lineup for the opening T20I against New Zealand in Auckland, over Manish Pandey. Not only this, they have further included Shardul Thakur in the side instead of pacer Navdeep Saini, who has been in excellent form in recent times. This decision has resulted in a lot of anger amongst the fans, who have expressed their disappointment with the decision to go for Thakur over a specialist pacer like Saini. Here are some of the reactions from the fans:
Pandey over Pant
— Yash (@sassy_penguin5) January 24, 2020
Thakur over Saini.
Defend this decision guys. Let me get my popcorn.
Thakur over Saini??!!!
— Jatin Khandelwal (@jr_khandelwal) January 24, 2020
The management: pic.twitter.com/SKHQJfKJcM
Shardul will be the weak link.
— रजत राठौर (@rajjo51200) January 24, 2020
Navdeep Saini would have been better.@vikrantgupta73
Why not including saini in place for shardul lol captaincy
— Abhishek Singh (@Abhishe12930805) January 24, 2020
Saini>Thakur any day
— Chaitanya Mali (@ChaitanyaMali12) January 24, 2020
Team India skipper Virat Kohli has won the toss and opted to field in the opening T20I of the five-match series in Auckland. The visitors will be looking to restrict New Zealand to a manageable total, on the back of an excellent performance against Australia.