Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) made a few forced changes for their last league match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 against Mumbai Indians (MI). Surprisingly, Manish Pandey, who was not even a part of the playing XI in the previous game, turned up for the coin toss as Kane Williamson was not fit for the match due to elbow injury. But, the main announcement came after the toss was flipped. The stand-in skipper revealed that Bhuvneshwar Kumar will not be playing too as the Indian pacer has an injured finger.
Bhuvneshwar is supposed to lead the Indian bowling attack when the Virat Kohli-led side will take on Pakistan in their first match of T20 World Cup on October 24. The medium pacer has been struggling with injuries which have resulted in him getting in and out of the squad. If it is not just a niggle, it will be a disappointing news for the Indian contingent.
The veteran pacer has had an inconsistent second leg but he was at his best in the previous match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 31-year-old took the wicket of RCB skipper Kohli in his first over and later defended 13 runs off last over against a dangerous AB de Villiers.
It is possible that SRH rested the Indian pacer because even if they win the match, they will stay at the bottom of the table. The same can be said for Williamson, who will be leading New Zealand when they begin their campaign against Pakistan on October 26.
However, if it is not just another niggle, we may see Shardul Thakur being moved from travelling reserves to the main squad. Thakur has been phenomenal in the second leg 13 wickets from seven games for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
