For the rain-shortened game against Australia in Nagpur, Team India made the unusual choice to go in with only five proper bowling options (including an allrounder). Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped as the Men in Blue strengthened up their batting by selecting Rishabh Pant, bringing the team total to seven hitters.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar hasn't been in the best of form of late, and his status in the Indian team has been called into doubt. Few would have imagined Pant being brought in as a replacement.
Fans on Twitter were surprised to see the hosts select seven proper batsmen for an eight-over game rather than addressing their bowling issues. They were also looking forward to seeing what would happen in the eight-over game.
Here are a few of the responses:
India got off to a flier courtesy of Rohit Sharma who looked to be dealing only in sixes and along with KL Rahul put on 30 runs in the two overs of the Powerplay.
Adam Zampa was brought into the attack and claimed the wicket of KL Rahul in his first over. He turned the game on its head when he dismissed Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession in his second over but India were still ahead of the required rate. It gave Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma time to consolidate the inning but the former departed in the penultimate over.
Rohit Sharma stayed unbeaten on 46 in just 20 deliveries to take his team home along with Dinesh Karthik. Adam Zampa was by far the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets and conceding just 16 runs in his 2 overs.
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