Why is Shardul Thakur not playing today’s T20 World Cup 2021 match between India and Scotland?

Shardul Thakur not playing: India have made a solitary change to their Playing XI for their fourth ICC T20 World Cup 2021 match.

During the 37th match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between India and Scotland in Dubai, India captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and chose to field. Having developed a knack of losing tosses in international cricket, Kohli’s luck worked in his favour on his 33rd birthday.

“We are going to bowl first. Dew is going to be a big factor. Try and restrict them and chase it down. Winning my first toss on my birthday, probably we should have played the first game on my birthday [smiles]. The intensity from ball one is important,” Kohli said at the toss.

7th time lucky. After losing 6 tosses in a row in T20Is, Virat Kohli finally wins one.

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 5, 2021

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer remained unperturbed about being asked to bat first. Instead, Coetzer sounded excited at the prospect of playing a World Cup T20I against India.

“Looks a good deck. Happy to go either way. First of all great occasion for us and Scottish cricket and the associate game. We are playing against some of the best players from the world here and in the last couple of games too. India is another special occasion for us. We have got to go out there, enjoy ourselves and try and express ourselves as much as possible,” Coetzer said at the toss.

Why is Shardul Thakur not playing vs Scotland?

Despite winning their last match against Afghanistan by 66 runs, India have made a solitary change to their Playing XI by including spinner Varun Chakravarthy for pacer Shardul Thakur. Readers must note that Chakravarthy had missed the last match due to a niggle.

“Shardul [Thakur] makes way for Varun [Chakravarthy]. He is back fit, so he will be our third spinner,” Kohli confirmed India playing an extra spinner at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium tonight.

In the 4.3 overs which Thakur has bowled across two matches in this tournament, he has leaked 48 runs at an economy rate of 10.66 without picking any wicket.

Scotland, on the other hand, will take the field without tinkering with their Playing XI.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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