Wasim Jaffer picks his India squad for South Africa T20Is

It was reported that the Indian team selectors are expected to announce two separate squads for the South Africa series and the England Tour. It is due to the idea to rest the senior players in order to keep them fresh ahead of the England tour, and the junior players are expected to get their due chances to showcase their talent in the international cricket. With players like Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar still recovering from their respective injury, some new faces are expected to be seen in the South Africa T20I series.

In the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League, there have been many youngsters who have impressed with their abilities to do well in crunch moments. With the announcement from the selectors expected in a matter of a few days, the former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer picked his probable India squad for the South Africa series.

Umran Malik needs to play enough first-class matches: Wasim Jaffer

Jaffer thinks the pace sensation Umran Malik needs to bring more variations to his game and should get enough first-class matches under his belt. He chose the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Prithvi Shaw as his choice for openers, and hailed their performances in the ongoing season of the IPL. Thereafter, the former batter picked Hardik Pandya as the leader of the team and reckoned that Rahul Tripathi and Harshal Patel should get their chances.

“Umran Malik needs to bring more variations in his game, as we all know he has pace. But on his bad day, he can be hit for 40-50 runs. If he plays enough first-class matches and plays for India A, he can get better,” said Jaffer on Sky247.net presents ‘Not Just Cricket’ Show on CricTracker.

“In my team, I have got Dhawan, Gaikwad, and Shaw, who I think have been brilliant. Rahul Tripathi needs to get a look-in, and Hardik Pandya has done well as a leader in IPL 2022 and will be my captain. Then Harshal Patel needs to be picked, as he will not be on the Test team. I think this will be the best second-string team,” he added.

Jaffer’s Probable India squad for the SA series: Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tripathi, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohsin Khan/ T Natarajan