Dubai
Pandya has started bowling in the nets but the skipper didn’t give any assurance that the all-rounder would be bowling against New Zealand but indicated that he himself might roll his arm over if India happens to bowl first.
“It’s very important to have a sixth bowling option -- whether through me or Hardik (Pandya). He should have to be fit to be able to bowl one or two overs,” Kohli said on the eve of the New Zealand game. Kohli confirmed that Pandya was fine as far as his shoulder injury was concerned but also dropped hints that Shardul Thakur is still not in the scheme of playing eleven as of now but could figure in future.
“Hardik is absolutely fine, if you’re talking about the blow on his shoulder,” Kohli said adding that Shardul was also in their “plans”.
On Shardul, Kohli said: “He’s (Shardul) definitely a guy who’s in our plans, constantly making a case for himself. He is definitely someone who can bring a lot of value to the team.
“What role he plays or where he fits in, that’s something that I cannot obviously talk about right now. But yes, Shardul is someone who’s got great potential and he will add great value to the team,” Kohli added.
When asked how he assessed Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance, the skipper said that he won’t single out any particular bowler.
“As a bowling group we failed to pick up wickets and we understand that can happen in the sport. These are the same guys who did the job for us for a long period of time. So, we understand how things went and where it went wrong.”
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