Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan spoke on all-rounder Naman Dhir’s surprise inclusion in the squad for West Indies ODIs, saying that he admires the Punjab batter’s talent and a player like him, who offers flexibility in terms of batting position and useful off-spin, has been missing from the Indian set-up. Irfan was speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘Follow the Blues’ programme. Team India will be taking on West Indies in a three-match ODI series from September 27 onwards. One surprising name in the squad was Naman, who had an incredible Sher-e-Punjab T20 with Amritsar Soormas recently. For the title-winning side Amritsar Soormas, Naman made 655 runs in 10 innings at an average of 72.28, including two centuries and three fifties, with a strike rate of 217.61 and a best score of 173.
Speaking during the programme, Pathan said, “I really admire Naman Dhir, I think he is a great talent. More than his performances in domestic cricket, he has been selected for his ability to bowl. A batter who can bat lower down the order, can bat in the top order as well, and can bowl handy off-spin, I think a player of that type has been missing a little bit in the ODI setup. Washington Sundar is not available because of the Asian Games, and Riyan Parag has had injury concerns, so if Naman gets his opportunity, I will be excited to see him. He has the skill, but more than his batting, his bowling will be tested.”
In List-A cricket, Naman has played 14 matches, scoring 351 runs in 11 innings at an average of 39.00 and a strike rate of over 106, with four fifties and a best score of 97. He has also taken seven wickets at an average of 37.14.
He has also been a crucial cog of the Mumbai Indians (MI) batting line-up, scoring 318 in 14 innings at an average of 26.50, with a strike rate of 147.22, including two fifties and a best score of 57 during this year’s season, which has been Naman’s best with the bat.
India’s ODI team for the West Indies series: Shubman Gill [C]Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul [VC]Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Auqib Nabi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Naman Dhir.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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