Nidahas Trophy 2018: Virat, Bumrah & Bhuvi to be rested?

THE INDIAN team is currently on a protracted tour to South Africa. Although there is still one final T20 game to be played at Cape Town on Sunday, the talk has already started about how many marquee players could be rested for the upcoming Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka. 

We have already seen how relentlessly Indian seamers in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar have played in South Africa. Of course, one can never ignore the Indian skipper Virat Kohli on this front. 

As reported by PTI, the workload of this trio is likely to be monitored and a decision on whether to include them or not for the Lanka T20 tri-series will be decided by the selectors over the weekend. 

"If Virat wants rest, he will get it. In Virat's case, it's he who decides on whether he would like to opt out or not. But you never know he might just want to play the T20 series as this is the last tourney of the season. Once the tournament is over, he will get a fortnight off before the Indian Premier League," a top BCCI official told PTI. 

We have already seen how India rested Bhuvaneshwar in the opening T20 and benched Bumrah during the second T20 at Centurion yesterday. Given the decent back-up in the seam department, it wouldn't be a surprise if these two leading pacers don't travel to Sri Lanka. 

Shardul Thakur, Jaidev Unadkat, Mohammad Shami, Mohd Siraj and Basil Thampy have already been exposed to T20 internationals and they could once again be asked to shoulder the responsibility. 

The Lankan T20 series starts on 6th March and will conclude on the 18th at Colombo.