India, Oct. 31 -- Arshdeep Singh's continued omission from India's playing XI has become a major talking point in the T20I series against Australia. Despite being India's leading wicket-taker in the format, the left-arm pacer was benched for the first two games, with Harshit Rana preferred by head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav for his batting ability lower down the order. After the first T20I got washed out, India continued with the same XI at the MCG, where Arshdeep once again failed to make the cut.

Meanwhile, Harshit, who was preferred over him, justified his selection with the bat as he scored 35 runs under pressure, but remained wicketless with the ball. He gave away 27 runs in the two overs he bowled at the MCG....