Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria on Tuesday (May 11) said that India has missed the trick by not picking a wrist spinner for the forthcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand and a five-match Test series in England starting next month.
Given the English conditions where the moisture stays for long, the Indian cricket team should have picked a wrist spinner along with finger spinners to have a greater impact on that king of pitches in England for the upcoming Test assignments, opined Kaneria.
Recently, BCCI announced the 20-member squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand and the five-match Test series against England, including R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Akshar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja in the spin department but they don’t have a writs spinner in the squad.
Kaneria told PTI: “India has selected quite a strong team. Overall, their squad is good. But the thing to note is that they have not selected a wrist spinner. They have finger spinners — Ashwin, Sundar, Akshar Patel, and Jadeja — but they don’t have a wrist spinner, a right-arm leg spinner.”
The leg spinner, who has eight years of county cricket experience and represented English county side Essex, said that the English conditions are conducive for leg break bowlers.
He continued, “When you play in England, and I have a lot of experience playing their — eight years of county cricket in different conditions — there is moisture. When the season starts the county matches are going on and after that the sun comes out and the wicket gets baked and the moisture stays.
Where there are seam conditions, a leg spinner is very useful and that’s why I had a successful tenure when I played county cricket. So, it is a little concerning that there is no leg spinner in the team. Finger spinners can contain but having finger spinner and a wrist spinner can make an impact on the team.”
The 40-year-old believes that Rahul Chahar could have been a useful addition for Team India on the English conditions. He also said if a player from the selected India squad is not able to travel to the UK, then the 21-year-old Chahar should be the one to travel with the Indian cricket team.
Kaneria further said, “Rahul Chahar, his height, the way he delivers the ball, he should have been in the team. New Zealand has Ish Sodhi, a tall leg spinner and Virat Kohli always struggles against a leg spinner as we saw it with (Adam) Zampa. So, I feel if there is a place open for a leg spinner than Chahar, who has played for Mumbai Indians and India and has performed well, has googly, flipper and leg-spin, could have been useful.”
The former spinner further explained why Rahul Chahar should be in the Indian squad, “I think if a player is not able to travel, due to injury then Chahar should be an option to be flown with the Indian team to England. And on reaching there, whatever the situation is, the management can make a decision.
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Because it will be a different proposition for New Zealand also to face him. They have a lot of quality right-handers - Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor. Because of the left-arm spinners in the team, there will be a rough created and that will be useful for the right-arm leg spinners.”
He continued, “(White ball specialist) Yuzvendra Chahal is a senior bowler but he is struggling with form, Kuldeep Yadav is lacking confidence so Chahar is one player, who can be groomed for Test cricket as well and he can be very useful.”
India will be traveling to England on the back of memorable Test series victories against Australia and India but Kaneria warned them New Zealand is also a formidable side with a strong bowling attack.
Kanaria signed off by saying, “Indian is playing good cricket, they have won series in Australia and then against England but NZ will not be an easy opponent as they are very tough in this type of condition where the ball seams. They have a very strong bowling lineup. India’s batting needs to deliver like Rishabh Pant did well in Australia but Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Puajar couldn’t score many runs that is a cause of concern.”
(With PTI Inputs)
