“It feels like a bit of a panic decision taken by Team India. You do not make three changes to the squad often,” Gavaskar said on broadcast after the toss on Thursday.
Sunil Gavaskar
Legendary Sunil Gavaskar reckons India may have panicked by including Washington Sundar in the playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand ahead of Kuldeep Yadav.
ADVERTISEMENT
Hosts India made three changes to their playing eleven for the second Test. They replaced Mohammed Siraj and KL Rahul with Akash Deep and Shubhman Gill respectively while wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav made way for Washington. “It feels like a bit of a panic decision taken by Team India. You do not make three changes to the squad often,” Gavaskar said on broadcast after the toss on Thursday.
India trail the three-match series 0-1 after losing the first Test by eight wickets last week. “I don’t see a lot of teams making three changes unless there are injury concerns. Including Washington Sundar tells you they are worried about their batting. More than his bowling, they need his batting down the order as the cushion,” Gavaskar said.
Also Read: Shreyas granted leave
“Yes, there is a lot of talk about the left-handers in the New Zealand batting unit, but I would have picked Kuldeep Yadav, who can also turn it away from a left-hander,” Gavaskar added. However, former India batter Sanjay Manjerakar lauded captain Rohit Sharma for his decision to bring in the inform Akash Deep and Washington. “Common sense selection. In-form seamer in. When pitch is offering a lot, you don’t need an artist like Kuldeep, a tall, quick, finger spinner will do,” Manjerakar tweeted.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever