Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed Team India’s selection after loss in the second T20I against England at Old Trafford, Manchester on Saturday. The home team registered a four-wicket win against the visitors to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Ashwin reckons India could have played Prince Yadav, who made an impressive debut against Ireland after bagging three wickets in his four overs. However, India played with three spinners – Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ravi Bishnoi but the ploy didn’t work.
Bishnoi conceded a total of 60 runs in his four overs, including 29 runs in the 17th over of the innings.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “I also don’t think India’s team selection was right. They shouldn’t have played three spinners in Manchester. Exactly. They should have gone with an extra seamer. That was necessary. They could have played Prince Yadav. I just feel India missed a trick there.”
After Sanju Samson was dropped to include Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ashwin expressed concerns regarding having three left-handers at the top of the order.
“One concern now is that the top three are all left-handers. Having three left-handers in a row at the top isn’t ideal. You need to break that sequence. Maybe the team should promote Shreyas Iyer to No. 3 if there are already two left-handers at the crease, and move Ishan Kishan down to No. 4. I think that’s something the Indian team can consider.”
The former CSK all-rounder is optimistic that India won’t play three spinners again in the rest of the series against England.
“I’m sure they won’t play three spinners again. As for the left-right combination, promoting Shreyas Iyer and pushing Ishan Kishan down the order could work because it would prevent someone like Will Jacks from being brought into the game so easily. India should maintain a left-right batting combination and bring another seamer into the playing XI.”
The third T20I between England and India will be played at Nottingham on Tuesday.
