Ravichandran Ashwin, a former Indian cricketer, blasted India’s team composition after a poor performance with the ball on Day 2 of the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Notably, India was compelled to make numerous changes to its playing XI. Anshul Kamboj received his first India call-up, replacing the injured Akash Deep, and Shardul Thakur replaced Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was ruled out of the series due to a knee injury. Ashwin believes that India should have chosen a specialist spinner to complement Jasprit Bumrah rather than prioritising batting depth by depending on all-rounders.
The former spinner said that Kuldeep Yadav would have been an excellent choice, as his presence would have provided much-needed relief to the Indian pacers, who have carried the majority of the workload throughout the tour.
“See, you may gain 20-30 extra runs from the No.8 hitter, but if that player gets 2-3 wickets, the tone of the Test match can alter. The management opted to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at Lord’s and Birmingham, which I’ll concede was a good move since he’s a top-six batter. He’s not Ben Stokes yet, but his bowling is skilful,” Ashwin stated on his YouTube account.
“Once Nitish Kumar Reddy went out of the picture at No.6, it was a no-brainer to play Kuldeep Yadav. 15 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 said.
Surprised not to see Kuldeep in the XI: Ashwin
Ashwin elaborated that taking 20 wickets should always be the top priority in Test cricket, even over batting depth or contributions from the lower order. He emphasised that the flat nature of English conditions has made first-innings leads increasingly insignificant.
“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.
India had no other options to take a wicket: Ashwin
Ashwin noted that including Kuldeep would have benefited India, as the batting lineup was already well-balanced, particularly with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar providing reliability in the lower middle order.
“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 there are 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 [Jasprit] was bowling, and after that it looked like India had no other options to take a wicket,” Ashwin said.
“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 at least picked one wicket if he was playing today,” he concluded.
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