Washington Sundar is the only spinner in the team, and Gavaskar was unhappy with the decision to bench experienced players like Ashwin and Jadeja.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar criticized Gautam Gambhir and the team management for leaving out Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for the first Test against Australia at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Instead, India gave debuts to all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Nitish Rana. Washington Sundar is the only spinner in the team, and Gavaskar was unhappy with the decision to bench experienced players like Ashwin and Jadeja.
While commentating on Day 1 of the first Test, Gavaskar said that Ashwin and Jadeja are not bowlers suited only to Indian conditions. He also criticized the management for selecting Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has played only 23 first-class matches.
“Really surprised with Ashwin and Jadeja not playing, they have got 900 wickets between them in Test matches. They are not bowlers who can just play in Indian or sub-continent conditions. They are very clever bowlers, they are very experienced bowlers. Even if they might not get you wickets, they will be able to slow the scoring down because of the cleverness of how they bowl,” said Gavaskar.
“I would have thought that on these Australian wickets, there are big boundaries, so I thought you would have gone with both of them. But this is a new management, new thinking. They have gone with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is a promising cricketer, make no mistake about that. But is he ready for Test cricket?” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar also mentioned that Nitish Kumar Reddy’s selection seems to be based more on “hope” than merit. Former Australian batter Matthew Hayden appeared to agree with Gavaskar’s opinion.
“He has not played many first-class games and so clearly, I think, this selection of Nitish is more in hope, nothing less. Like all Indian cricket followers, I hope it comes off,” said Gavaskar.
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In their 1st innings, India were bowled out for 150 on Day 1 in Perth after choosing to bat first, with tea taken right after. The Australian bowlers made full use of the pitch, which offered good movement, and their seamers were hard to handle. Hazlewood took four wickets, while the other pacers got two each.
India started carefully in the morning session, trying to survive the tough conditions, but Australia kept the pressure on. The only positive for India came after lunch when Rishabh Pant played some attacking shots and, with debutant Nitish Reddy, added 48 runs for the seventh wicket. Other than that, there wasn’t much for India to cheer about.
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