Mukesh Kumar vs Avesh Khan - who should India pick in 1st T20I vs Australia?

Team India are all set to take on Australia in a five-match T20I series, and despite it being sort of a cooldown series following a highly engaged 2023 ODI World Cup, the selection debate among fringe players lives on.

The Men in Blue will be led by Suryakumar Yadav, with Ishan Kishan and Prasidh Krishna being the only other players who were part of the World Cup squad. The series proves to be an excellent avenue for the bench players to make an early mark and vie for a place in the 2024 T20 World Cup squad.

The majority of the fringe players impressed during the Asian Games 2023 campaign in Hangzhou, but now a stronger test awaits them in the form of the relentless Australian side.

The spots for the majority of the team are locked in - like Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Rinku Singh in the middle order, as well as Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh in terms of the bowling unit.

There is enough competition among the squad for the remaining spots, and one of them is likely to be between Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar for the third seamer slot, with Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna highly likely to be included in the playing XI.

On that note, let us see who should India pick in the first T20I vs Australia between Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar.

Current form

Both pacers are far from optimal form, but they can use the upcoming series to find their touch. Mukesh Kumar made his T20I debut during the Caribbean tour in July 2023, and like his reputation, was not a genuine wicket-taker. He took three wickets in the five-match series and did not bowl his full quota of overs in any of the matches.

He was part of the Bengal squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well, but wickets continued to elude him there as well. The pacer finished with two wickets in five matches and now faces the Australian challenge.

Avesh Khan, on the other hand, played one match in Team India's 2023 Asian Games campaign. He finished with figures of 3-32 in the contest against Nepal, but bigger challenges await him now.

The right-arm pacer, who has been traded to the Rajasthan Royals (RR), was not among the wickets for Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. While he ended with only three wickets in five matches, he was very economical in his efforts.

Attributes

Mukesh Kumar has shown that he can bowl across all three stages of the innings, and particularly impressed with his death bowling for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). His strength, however, remains conventional and traditional bowling. While sometimes it comes across as a strength in the shortest format, as Josh Hazlewood executes it, at times it can be a drawback as well.

Mukesh has worked on his variations, but his stock ball proves to be his greatest strength and weakness.

Avesh Khan, meanwhile, injects a bit of pace into the bowling attack and he also has the ability to hit the deck hard and extract some bounce off the surface. He has had his struggles on slower pitches, much like the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow during IPL 2023.

What do Team India need to complete their playing XI?

With Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna seemingly in the playing XI, Team India have sorted out largely their requirement for all three phases of the innings. However, Arshdeep does require a partner with the new ball as well as an accomplice for the death overs as well.

Avesh Khan can be a handy addition at the top of the innings as well as the middle phase, but he is not the best option for the death overs. He has an economy rate of 10.54 in the final phase of the innings in T20 cricket. On the other hand, he has an economy rate of 7.94 in the first powerplay and has taken 24 wickets as well.

In comparison, Mukesh Kumar has an economy of 9.84 in the death overs and possesses the ability of bowling the yorker consistently. However, his numbers in the powerplay are quite poor.

To conclude, Team India arguably cannot go either right or wrong in terms of their selection regarding the third seamer. However, the manner with which they have backed Mukesh in recent times, handing him appearances across all three formats in such a short space, it seems like they will head in that direction while Avesh will have to wait for his chance later in the series.

Who will Team India select as their third seamer for the first T20I against Australia? Let us know what you think.