The former India batter named a player that could've eased India's quest to force a result on a benign surface in play at the Queen's Park Oval.
Aakash Chopra believes India got the make-up of their attack wrong for a benign track in play in Trinidad Test against the West Indies. With the hosts opting for a flat wicket with no pace and bounce to try and escape with a draw against a more rounded opposition, Chopra felt, India shouldn’t have played three fast bowlers but could’ve opted for an extra tweaker in their line-up.
The Indian team did make a change to their winning XI from Dominica but it was a forced one and involved a pace protagonist, with debutant Mukesh Kumar coming in for injured Shardul Thakur.
Chopra, however, was of the opinion that the team management could’ve played a skiddy spinner in Axar Patel instead to join forces with the great spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The former India batter further identified a missing piece in the Indian jigsaw by stating that the selectors perhaps missed a trick by not taking wristspinner Kuldeep to the Caribbean, as his ability to turn the ball both ways and generate some spite with over spin could’ve come in handy on a docile pitch at Queen’s Park Oval.
Chopra’s remarks came as West Indies kept India at bay with a defiant batting display on a rain-marred Day 3 of the Test match. Trying various plans to break the opposition’s resilience but to little avail on a surface offering batters all the time to make late adjustments, India finished with only four wickets to show for their efforts, as the hosts reached 229/5 by stumps in response to 438.
“One thing was definitely there that this was not the pitch where you should have probably played three fast bowlers. India should have played Axar Patel here and if you had a bowler named Kuldeep Yadav in your squad, you could have played him on such pitches. When the pitch is more dead, a wrist-spinner can do a better job than a finger-spinner,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
The commentator also expressed disappointment at the approach taken by the West Indies batters, who have seemed intent on playing out a draw from the word go and have been rather happy to bide time and balls in the middle.
While the pragmatism in play is understandable given that West Indies recognise they don’t have the resources to topple off India, Chopra said the attitude is defeatist and takes one result out of the equation.
“You cannot ensure a contest. What we saw in Trinidad is that only one team is trying to win, the other team is trying to play, that they will continue playing and the result be damned. So that is a problem for sure,” he added.
