England will resume Day 3 at 225/2, trailing by 133 runs.
Recently retired Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has opposed the management’s decision to play an extra batter in their lineup instead of strengthening their bowling unit in the ongoing ENG vs IND Tests. Notably, several former players and experts had previously voiced for the inclusion of spinner Kuldeep Yadav in India’s playing XI since the beginning of the five-match series.
However, the 30-year-old has not featured in any of the four red-ball fixtures so far.
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The 38-year-old pointed out that the current England tracks don’t offer much help to the bowlers. This increases the need for a wicket-taking bowler in the playing XI as the lower-order runs have lost its impact in these batting-favoured pitches.
“If your No.6 makes 30 or No.7 makes 30, that’s 60 runs. Earlier, those 60 runs were very useful as the bowlers used to get help from the pitch. But now a days there is not much help in the English wickets. Picking up two-three wickets is even more critical than making those 30-40 runs,” stated Ashwin in a discussion on his YouTube channel.
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Team India have benched the ace spinner to play all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur in four of the five Test matches of this series so far. This move has allowed them to have an extra batting option in their lineup. Though they had dropped Shardul after an average outing in the series opener in Leeds, he made a comeback in India’s playing XI for the ongoing Test to replace an injured Nitish, instead of Kuldeep.
However, the aforementioned statement of Ashwin weighs in more on the spinner’s inclusion after a 166-run opening stand of England on Day 2 of the fourth Test. Team India managed to strike their first breakthrough of the innings on the last delivery of the 32nd over, when Ravindra Jadeja dismissed opener Zak Crawley for 84.
The bowling unit not only failed to pick up crucial wickets early in the innings and maintain consistency, but also leaked runs at approximately 4.89 runs per over. Specifically, pacers Shardul and Mohammed Siraj conceded runs at an expensive economy of 7.00 and 5.80, respectively. However, England will resume Day 3 at 225/2 with Ollie Pope (20) and Joe Root (11) at the crease, trailing by 133 runs.
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