Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel gave an out-of-box suggestion to the Indian team ahead of the second Test against England to be played in Vizag. Patel urged India to drop pacer Mohammed Siraj from the playing XI.
The first Test between India and England was played in Mohammed Siraj’s hometown of Hyderabad. However, the pacer failed to impress, going wicketless. He also didn’t bowl much in the Test match, sending down 11 overs and conceding 50 runs and was the last wicket that fell as India lost the match.
India does have a selection conundrum heading into the match in Vizag with Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul out with injuries. India has called up Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar, and Washington Sundar into the India squad and have Rajat Patidar already waiting for his chance.
Parthiv Patel suggested that India should go with an extra pure batter rather than Siraj. The former wicketkeeper-batter feels that if Siraj isn't being used properly, then a batter could be added.
"There is no doubt that three spinners are enough, but I have a different perspective. You have used Siraj for only six or seven overs throughout the Test. Axar Patel played ahead of Kuldeep Yadav because of his batting abilities, as mentioned by Rohit Sharma before the Test. And if you are not using Siraj much, then why not play an extra pure batter," said Parthiv on JioCinema.
He added that this would add more cushion to the Indian batting and there was no point of having Siraj in the XI if he wasn’t bowling a lot of overs.
"So, you will have three types of bowlers in Ashwin, Akshar, and Kuldeep, and the extra batter will add depth to the batting. And there’s no point playing someone if you are going to give him only seven overs," he added.
Updated Indian squad for the 2nd Test:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Saurabh Kumar.
