Mission T20I World Cup: Is the left still India's weaker hand?

Irrespective of the colour of the ball, all three kinds of left-handed skills are structural to a winning combination - a batter in the top five, a spinner and a pacer. Currently, India has defined two of those roles with Axar and Arshdeep flourishing in their roles. Pant needs to be the missing piece of the puzzle.

Arshdeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel

Cricket only works if played with the right angles. But it is kind of biased towards its left angles. 

On his day, Axar Patel will hit the stumps while bowling and fielding. He also has the ability to the hit the ball out of the park. He bowls with the newish ball inside the powerplay which is an absolute boon. With the white-ball skidding on to the stumps, hitting him across the line is a low-percentage and a high-risk option. This allows the captain to protect the straighter boundaries and entice the batters to go squarer.