T20 World Cup 2021 | Four net bowlers back home for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021

10/23/2021

Four net bowlers - Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed, Krishnappa Gowtham, and Venkatesh Iyer were sent back to India for the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. Further, Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness still remains an uncertainty as he didn’t even roll his arm once in the net sessions.

Ahead of Super 12 round of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman, India have also sent four of their net bowlers back to India for the upcoming season Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Karn Sharma, Shahbaz Ahmed, Krishnappa Gowtham and Venkatesh Iyer have been sent back to India from the UAE to represent their respective states for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

“Yes, there won’t be too many net sessions once the tournament starts. The national selectors feel that all the spinners especially would benefit if they go back and play Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for their respective states. They need match practice. Also in this heat with optional practice, we won’t need so many spinners,” a senior BCCI official said, according to PTI.

Now, four fast bowlers Avesh Khan, Umran Malik, Harshal Patel, and Lukman Meriwalla are with the Indian team in the UAE.

Further, India are sweating out hard on the field ahead of their opening clash against Pakistan on Sunday, October 24. Notably, the Virat Kohli-led side won both their warm-up matches ( vs England and Ausralia) ahead of the high-octane clash with the arch-rivals.

Only concern for Team India currently is the bowling fitness of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has not rolled his arm since July. After not bowling for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the second leg of IPL 2021, the 28-year-old played as a sepecialist batsman in both the warm-up games. Moreover, it has also been learnt that the Gujarat-born is yet to bowl in Team India's net sessions at the showpiece event.

On Friday, Dhoni was seen helping the three throwdown experts – Raghavendra, Nuwan and Dayanand in these net sessions.