India have qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals as a result and their final group stage match against New Zealand comes as an important experience on fire of Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir playing 11. This will be the teams only opportunity to tinker, as teams cant play over 5 games in tournament. The fixture will decide who India plays in semi-final but what is more important is to add depth to the squad. A smart move here would be to rest either the other Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel, and give Washington Sundar the game in the spin department.
India’s Bench Strength Needs Game Time Before Knockouts
In the last six months, Team India has played only five ODIs and a handful of players on the bench have not played game cricket. Rishabh Pant has not played at 50 over level, Washington Sundar and Varun Chakravarthy or Arshdeep Singh one each. Although Arshdeep and Varun played in Vijay Hazare Trophy, the general lack of experience at white coloums spoils it. One of them, Washington Sundar is an important component who he has been mentioned is not that New Zealand will be challengers in ICC Champions Trophy final. Providing he gets match practice now, it will give India the benefit of grooming him to handle various situations in the knock phase.
Washington Sundar’s Off-Spin: A Crucial Asset Against New Zealand’s Left-Handers
The line-up of New Zealand batsmen features left-handers Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner with the addition of Devon Conway or Mark Chapman also being possible. Available though Kuldeep Yadav for the wrist-spinner, missing out exclusively on orthodox spin and relying on left-arm orthodox spinners only like Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja will make India subdued in between overs. That will also be crucial to give Washington an offspin test against the Kiwis ahead of this time they come face to face in the final. Even if that doesn’t materialise, Sundar will add a much needed weapon on the bench after injury and tactical strains that India has had to deal with for weeks now.
