Kolkata, June 8 (FN Agency) Swashbuckling India batsman KL Rahul will be donning the captain’s hat as the Men in Blue lock horns with South Africa in a 5-match T20I series that gets underway from June 9. Team India are chasing history during the bilateral series – should the hosts win the opening match, they will achieve an all-time record of winning 13 consecutive T20Is. This will be the first time that KL Rahul will be captaining India in a T20 game which begins preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup later in Australia this year.Speaking exclusively on Star Sports show ‘Follow The Blues’, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan reckons KL Rahul will come out as a good leader, “Definitely, an exam for all the players but most importantly KL Rahul as the leader. I think, so far, whenever you go in the exam, you want to prepare well. He has prepared well – he has taken Lucknow Super Giants to the Playoffs and he did well.” “According to me, he has become better as a captain. Because, previously, when he captained Punjab, he was focused more on taking care and understanding his leadership, but eventually, now I feel he is doing better as a captain,” Pathan said.
“There’s still a lot more scope for improvement and I feel as time passes, he will get better and better. He is calm and a very experienced player. As a captain, I believe he will keep doing better because I have a lot of expectations from him and I’m sure he will come out a good leader,” Pathan said. Meanwhile, a fully fit Hardik Pandya makes his return back to the squad. The talented all-rounder enjoyed an excellent season with bat, scoring 487 runs in 15 matches. His spell of 3/17 in the IPL final was a match-winning performance.Pathan feels the team management now have a wealth of options, “Hardik Pandya is very valuable and he is capable of finishing the game. He can do that, batting from the top as well. So, the management is quite aware of this and having him in the team, they don’t just have one or two but three finishers in the team. The way Hardik Pandya bats, he is capable of scoring sixes anytime and has started playing along the ground too, which is why this season in the IPL, he has been great. Getting back to batting, the Indian team, having three finishers, has filled up the gaps and having him back to the team excites me a lot.” The Indian team also boasts of two emerging bowlers, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik, both who have been exceptional for their IPL franchises this year.
The former has been one of Punjab Kings’ leading pacers, specially picking wickets at regular intervals in the death overs. In 36 IPL matches, Arshdeep has picked up 40 wickets at an economy rate of 8.42 with one five-wicket haul to his name. Jammu and Kashmir’s Umran has breathed fire, clocking 150 kmph consistently.Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan is delighted to see Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik in the squad, “Absolutely thrilled to see these two guys getting the India call-up. Arshdeep Singh has been bowling well since a long time now. A left-arm bowler does give you a different angle, but the way he has bowled in the death is what has impressed me the most. “Umran Malik – Wow – you know, he’s bowled consistently at 150km. I’m really impressed with him. The whole world is excited, not just India, because there aren’t many who can bowl consistently 150km in the world. In that way, he has got potential. Obviously, he is inexperienced as far his first-class cricket is concerned. But I think this team management, Rahul Dravid, and all the coaches will back him,” Pathan added.