3 Indian players who should be dropped for 2nd T20I against Australia

The first T20I between Australia and India at the Gabba was a close encounter between two formidable young sides. The Duckworth Lewis too played a part in this match due to the rain pouring down during the first innings. Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn helped Australia to put up a respectable total of 158 in 17 overs. The Indian bowlers simply let the Australian batsmen control the middle overs as they leaked a lot of runs in that period

Shikhar Dhawan was in prolific form for India as went on to score 76 runs in 42 balls at a strike rate of 180.95. Despite his heroics, India were unable to chase the revised target of 174 runs in and let the game slip away from them when Rishabh Pant played a suicidal scoop in the 15th over of the game off Andrew Tye.

Let us have a look at the 3 Indian players who should be dropped in the 2nd T20I against Australia.

#3 Khaleel Ahmed

Khaleel Ahmed was expensive and poor in the field as well

Khaleel Ahmed was quite expensive in his first match Down Under. He let down the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who bowled tidy overs and restricted the Australian sloggers to a great extent. Despite picking the wicket of D'Arcy Short on his first delivery of the innings, Khaleel went on concede 42 runs in 3 overs at a terrible economy rate of 14.

Khaleel's nerves got the better of him as he repeatedly bowled the same short pitch length and hence was smothered by Chris Lynn to the fence quite easily. His bouncers didn't have the spice to trouble Lynn and consequently ended up bowling into his hitting range. The team management should have asked him to bowl outside off, an area where Lynn isn't especially comfortable scoring quickly.

It is likely that Virat Kohli might consider bringing in the experienced Umesh Yadav in the 2nd T20I in place of the young Khaleel Ahmed.

#2 KL Rahul

KL Rahul was quite a disaster with the bat at the Gabba, having managed to score just 13 runs from 12 balls at a below average strike rate of 108.33. Despite India having two wrist spinners in their squad, it was quite surprising to see KL Rahul get stumped off Australia's premier wrist spinner Adam Zampa. Against West Indies at home too Rahul gave a dismal performance as he managed to score just 59 runs in 3 matches.

Hence, it was a surprising decision to see Rahul picked ahead of the in-form Shreyas Iyer who has been scoring tons of runs for India A side as well as for his domestic team Mumbai. Kohli should pick Iyer in the 2nd T20I as his inclusion will pave the way for Virat Kohli to play in the number three position in the batting order.

#1 Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya just failed to turn up

Krunal Pandya had a horrible time at the Gabba. He was hammered by Glenn Maxwell all over the park as he didn't vary his pace against him and ended up bowling in the all-rounder's arc. He also rarely bowled his yorkers or the full-length deliveries to him. The credit should also go to Maxwell for not letting Krunal settle into a rhythm and going after him without any mercy. In 4 overs, Pandya gave away 55 runs at an economy rate of 13.75.

Krunal also couldn't contribute anything with the bat when the team needed him to step up in those crucial last two overs of the match. Hence, the decision to leave out the talented Chahal for Krunal was unsuccessful as the other wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav troubled the Australian batsmen and took two wickets.

Hence, Krunal Pandya should be dropped in favor of Chahal for the 2nd T20I.