IND vs NZ | India can rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar and include Avesh Khan in the last T20I, feels Gautam Gambhir

IND vs NZ | India can rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar and include Avesh Khan in the last T20I, feels Gautam Gambhir

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India has an unassailable lead of 2-0 over New Zealand

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Gautam Gambhir feels that the Indian team can rest pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and replace him with Avesh Khan against New Zealand in the last T20I. The Men In Blue have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and will look to clean sweep the Kiwis in Kolkata on Sunday.

The Rohit Sharma-led side won the first T20I by five wickets in Jaipur. However, they had to struggle a bit to chase down 165 as they lost the wickets of Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, and Venkatesh Iyer in quick succession and eventually won the game with two balls to spare. In the second game, they chased down 144 runs in just 17.2 overs as the openers Rohit Sharma and Kl Rahul stitched a opening partnership of 117 runs. Meanwhile, Gambhir while speaking on Star Sports, said that Avesh Khan can be included in the playing in the third game as the Kolkata pitch might suit him. 

"From a bowling point of view they can actually rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar and look at Avesh Khan. It will suit him especially the wicket in Kolkata, it's got pace and bounce. So I would definitely want to see Avesh playing that game. He has got pace and you got to test him on the international stage when you got the series in your bag. So that is one change they can look towards," Gambhir said.

Khan was the second-highest wicket taker in the IPL 2021 with 24 wickets in 16 games at an economy rate of 7.37. The former India opening batsman added that the Indian team needs to be ruthless in the last game. 

"You still have to be ruthless and try to wrap up the series 3-0. But no point putting pressure on yourself," he added.

India will be looking for the second consecutive clean sweep against the T20 World Cup 2021 finalist. In 2020, the Men in Blue beat the Blackcaps by a scoreline of 5-0.

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