Six years on since Sanjay Manjrekar stirred up a controversy by referring to India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as a “bits-and-pieces” cricketer during the 2019 World Cup, former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu has made a similar remark about the inclusion of Shardul Thakur in the Test XI in Manchester on Wednesday.
After India lost all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy to injury in the lead-up to the fourth Test, India went in with Shardul, who had a limited role with both bat and bowl during their first Test defeat in Headingley last month. The 33-year-old Mumbaikar was slotted in to bat at No. 7, and with India showing limited faith in his bowling prowess before, Sidhu questioned the purpose of his inclusion.
After India were sent into bat and lost Sai Sudharsan in the final hour of Day 1’s play, following Rishabh Pant’s exit due to a foot injury, Thakur and Jadeja took the side to stumps at 264 for four with both batters unbeaten on 19.
‘Even Jadeja couldn’t pick wickets…
“One area of problem, even if Shardul makes a fifty, at that number eight position, bits-and-pieces cricketers do well in one-day cricket, but in Test cricket, you always need specialists. If you could bring Shardul the bowler at number eight, then I would agree this is the right selection. You do not bowl him enough and then in order to increase the batting you compromise with your bowling.
“Bits-and-pieces cricketers, I don’t think will ever win you games abroad. Even Jadeja could not pick wickets in the first two Tests with the rough. Batting, fielding, as an all-rounder, par excellence,” Sidhu said on his YouTube channel.
Sidhu added that Shardul’s addition is a compromise on the bowling with negligible boost to the batting department.
“What is the purpose here? The guy at number eight, do you want him to give you five wickets or batting depth? If you want batting depth and that would win you games, then would those 200 runs (193 at Lord’s) not have been chased? If seven can’t do it, eight also won’t. I have been repeating this point time and again. I feel this is again a compromise, and I feel it will not go in favour of India,” Sidhu added.
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Shardul has played more Tests in England than any other country, scoring 197* runs in six matches while taking 12 wickets at an average of 38.33.
