India’s obsession with a deeper batting line-up may have just come in the way of picking their best playing XI for the Manchester Test, said spin legend R Ashwin as he slammed the choice of picking Shardul Thakur over Kuldeep Yadav for the fourth match.
India had a horrendous day with the ball after posting 358 in the first innings. England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley’s rapid knocks had the hosts cut the deficit to only 133 runs by stumps on Day 2, scoring 225/2 at a staggering run rate of 4.89 rpo. Replacing the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul walked in at number 7 and scored 41. However, the Mumbai all-rounder was only entrusted by captain Shubman Gill with five of the 46 overs bowled, conceding 35 runs.
“See, you may get 20-30 extra runs from the No.8 batter, but if that player at No.8 takes 2-3 wickets, then the complexion of the Test match can change. The management decided to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at Lord’s and Birmingham, I’ll admit that was an okay decision, because he is a top-six calibre batter, and he is not Ben Stokes yet, but there is skill in his bowling,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
‘No-brainer to play Kuldeep’
Ashwin said he could not wrap his head around the fact that India’s premier wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been benched throughout the tour so far, and was also not in contention to make the side at Old Trafford.
“Once Nitish Kumar Reddy went out of the picture at No.6, it was a no-brainer to play Kuldeep Yadav. Fifteen full days of cricket has happened already, your fast bowling attack is tiring, Siraj was tiring. Even though Bumrah’s workload has been managed, it is still not an easy task. Kuldeep Yadav is a serious miss for India, and England are ahead in the Test. Shubman Gill is unable to give six over, seven over spells to Bumrah, you cannot run him to the ground. I felt the spinners could have been rotated better,” Ashwin added.
“If somebody would have told me that Kuldeep Yadav will not be playing any part in the first four Tests, I would have been very very surprised. Unfortunately, it is our obsession with batting, and looking for those 20-30 extra runs. Gone are those days in England, that advantage of 20-30 runs is gone. If your No.7 makes 30 runs, and your No.8 makes 30 runs, you have extra 60 runs. Earlier that 60 runs used to be very useful, because bowlers used to get help from the pitch,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin further questioned the utility of Shardul if he was only adding runs without being considered for heavy duty with the Dukes ball.
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“If you are only planning to give Shardul Thakur this many overs, and expect 20-30 runs from him. I love Shardul Thakur, I like him a lot, but if this is the usage point, why can’t you consider Kuldeep Yadav? It is just blowing my head away. I know it seems against the grain because it is three spinners, but it is not that way, Jadeja is a specialist batter for you now. Washington Sundar is also batting well. When your bowlers can bat so well, why are you not bringing an attacking bowler? Today, Jassi was bowling, and after that it looked like India had no other options to take a wicket.
“I am not saying that Kuldeep would have picked up five wickets if he was playing, but it plays with a batter’s mind. A lot of these guys don’t pick him, and this was a great opportunity. He would have atleast picked one wicket if he was playing today,” Ashwin concluded.
