New Delhi, Nov 6
Legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble has expressed his wish for Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, and Ramandeep Singh to get a chance to play for India during their upcoming four T20Is in South Africa, commencing on November 8 in Durban.
The trio got their maiden call-ups to the India T20I team after triplet of Riyan Parag, Mayank Yadav and Shivam Dube were unavailable due to various injuries. "I hope all these three get an opportunity to play for the Indian team because all of them have really done well at the domestic level."
"Yash Dayal, after those five sixes by Rinku Singh, has certainly come back strong. That shows a lot about his character - what he can bring to the table. He's a fantastic left-arm seamer and moves the ball both ways. He's developed his game around bowling in the death overs as well; he did really well for RCB last season," said Kumble to JioCinema.
Speaking of Vyshak, who impressed for RCB in IPL 2024 and during the Duleep Trophy, while earning a fast-bowling contract from the BCCI, Kumble remarked, "Vyshak is really good. Again, a domestic player who's done a lot of good work for Karnataka."
"Unfortunately, he didn't get enough opportunities for RCB, and I was a bit surprised that they didn't retain him. But I hope he gets an opportunity in South Africa. Again, he has all the variations of bowling in the death overs."
Ramandeep had a strike-rate of 201.61 in KKR's IPL 2024 win and earned a reputation of being a handy seamer and gun fielder. After good showing for India A in the Emerging Men's T20 Asia Cup, Ramandeep was eventually retained by KKR ahead of 2025 mega auction.
"Ramandeep has done really well. I think he's really come up with strides, especially after his move to KKR. Batting in that middle period where he's been that striker who can really destroy even when he gets three or four balls. That's been the best part about Ramandeep."
"And he's a gun fielder; we've seen that in that emerging championship. He bowls a bit too. So, I hope he gets to do the bowling part as well because people tend to ignore the all-rounders, especially with the impact player rule in the IPL. I hope he gets a bit of bowling because that's something which is needed at the international level," added Kumble.
The series will also see wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson continue in the role of opening the batting, after making a stunning 111 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad last month. "There's been a lot of talk about keeping Sanju Samson for a long period of time, and that hundred that he got certainly would have given him a lot of confidence. We know the ability of Sanju Samson, he is a class act."
"The consistency is something that is a little missing, and that's something I'm sure the Indian selectors would be looking for. Keeping him at the top of the innings, either at number one, two, or three, is where I think he can certainly add a lot of value to this team."
"He has that backfoot play, plenty of time against fast bowlers, and he can destroy the spinners too. So, it'll be good to see how he copes with those four games in South Africa in those conditions," concluded Kumble.