India went with the combination of four pacers and a spinner in Ravindra Jadeja.
Before the game, some experts opined that India should go with two spinners and three pacers in their playing XI while a few of them stated that playing four fast bowlers is the way to go in English conditions.
As it turned out, India went with the combination of three premier pacers, one seam-bowling all-rounder and a spinner considering the overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch at the Oval.
The No. 1 ranked Test spinner R Ashwin was left out of the playing XI and the likes of Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja formed the bowling attack.
As expected, the decision to drop Ashwin sparked an outrage and India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey defended the move by saying that it was based purely on conditions.
“It is always a very difficult decision to drop a champion bowler like him. Looking at the conditions in the morning we thought an additional seamer would be beneficial.
“It has also worked in the past for us. Seamers have done well out here for us. You can always look back and say that additional spinner would have been beneficial but we took the call looking at the conditions,” said Mhambrey after Australia reached 327/3 at stumps on Day 1.
Asked what sort of communication takes place with the player who gets overlooked in the playing XI, the bowling coach said: “When team discussion happens, we talk about composition over a period of days. We trained here for three four days before the game and seeing the wicket, conversations happen with players. The players also understand that (the importance of team combination).”
Mhambrey feels India can still bounce back in the game. “The second new ball did a bit. The morning session will be important. The wicket played better than our expectations in the last two sessions today,” he said.
Paras Mhambrey admitted that the bowlers could have done a better job.
“We could have been more disciplined. After 12-13 overs, we lacked discipline. I felt we conceded more runs that we would have preferred,” he stated.
At the close of play on the opening day, Travis Head and Steve Smith were unbeaten in the middle for Australia on 146 and 95 respectively. The duo added an unbroken 251-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
(With PTI Inputs)