IND vs ENG: Vaughan and Zaheer suggest Team India’s changes for the series decider

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has given his opinion on India’s line-up for the series decider against England on Saturday. According to the ex-cricketer, KL Rahul should be dropped if Ishan Kishan is fit and ready to come back to the team. Kishan, who made his debut in this series, was left out of the fourth match due to a small niggle.

KL Rahul, on the other hand, has looked completely out of place in this series so far. He is the only player who has opened in all the games of this series but has got close to no returns. In the first match, he made one run and followed that up with two successive ducks. In the fourth match, he scored only 14 runs from 17 balls.

India has sent out three different opening partners with Rahul in this series. Shikhar Dhawan and Kishan opened in the first and second match respectively, while Rohit Sharma took the field with him in the third and fourth match. Kishan, who made his debut in the second game, had scored a match-winning 32-ball 56. Suryakumar Yadav, who had replaced Kishan for the fourth match, also scored a fantastic 31-ball 57, confirming a spot for himself in the series decider.

KL Rahul is not playing to the confidence right now: Michael Vaughan

“KL Rahul doesn’t play, simple. You can’t look at this other than a one-off game and who is the best player at the minute, who is playing with the most clarity and confidence. Ishan Kishan will open the batting,” said Vaughan during Cricbuzz’s preview show for the fifth T20I, to be played on Saturday.

Vaughan continued his ‘get more Mumbai Indians players’ rant by making a point that Rahul looks short of confidence and should be left out for the final game.

“For me, KL Rahul is not being thrown out of the team forever but at this stage, he is not playing to the confidence, he is struggling for form, so Ishan Kishan will come in to open the batting with Rohit. More Mumbai Indians, there you go,” added Vaughan.

The ex-cricketer also found some support from his fellow panelist, Zaheer Khan, on the Rahul-Kishan issue. The former Indian pacer was also of an opinion that Washington Sundar could be left out after his expensive spell of 0 for 52 runs in the fourth match. He further suggested that left-arm spinner Axar Patel could replace him.