- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER England spinner Graeme Swann feels India should send their B team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia as the Asian giants have problems to address in the run-up to the marquee tournament.
The 43-year-old’s remark came after India thrashed England by 50 runs in the first T20 international match in Southampton to take a 1-0 lead in three-match series. The visitors, who recently had a shocking loss to England in the rescheduled fifth Test match against the Three Lions at Edgbaston, rested the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja for the match.
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“India should send their B team to Australia and probably win the World Cup. I think it’s a great idea that you bring a load of players in. You got a winning team and completely change that in the 2nd game against England,” said Swann, who has more than 400 wickets in international cricket.
“I would like you to do that, India, please. Because this XI will beat England in 2 days’ time, even if you bring in world-class players like Bumrah, Kohli and Pant, it upsets the balance that has played so well. Of course, they will come back into the team because of who they are. But if you are the England team, I would be looking for any way to upset the rhythm,” he added.
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The former cricketer also suggested that Kohli, who has been struggling for runs for a while now, should open the batting with captain Rohit Sharma.
“Virat Kohli comes in, he opens the batting, instead of Kishan. That is what I would do. When you have got a player as good as Virat, you don’t want him to bat at No. 3 in the middle overs because he is not scoring as quickly as SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) or Hooda when they first come in because that’s not his game.”
“When Rohit is batting so well at the other end, scoring quickly, Virat will follow and do the same thing. Kohli and Sharma score heavily at the top, Hooda and SKY can follow suit,” Swann said.
India and England will play the second T20 at Edgbaston on Saturday (9).
