Former India selector Sarandeep Singh feels that India should have taken Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the England tour calling him “the best swing ball the team has”. He further added that Shardul Thakur should’ve been part of India’s World Test Championship (WTC) final squad.
Since Thakur was not a part of the 15-man squad, he could not be drafted into the playing eleven as the fast bowling all-rounder after rain in Southampton made conditions more favorable for the pace bowlers.
“The playing eleven picked two days ago before the game was perfect with two spinners in it. But it should have been changed as the conditions got more conducive to fast bowling (after rain),” Sarandeep told PTI.
“You picked the two spinners (Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja) because they can bat. The only fast bowler who could bat was Shardul and he was not in the 15. He should have been there in the 15-man squad irrespective of whether he made the eleven or not eventually,” he added.
“You can’t be relying only on Hardik anymore. You don’t know when he will be fit enough to bowl in all formats so someone like Shardul needs to be groomed or even Vijay Shankar or Shivam Dube is there,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be touring Sri Lanka as the vice-captain of the India white-ball team for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is next month. Sarandeep Singh felt that the UP pacer should’ve been an automatic pick for the England tour.
“Not taking Bhuvi to England is a huge mistake. He is the best swing bowler you have and he is not even part of the squad,” he said.
Sarandeep Singh further agreed with Virat Kohli’s assessment that the Indian batsmen need to show more intent while dealing with overcast conditions.
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“What is clear now is that you can’t play defense too much if the ball is doing a lot. Whether it is (Cheteshwar) Pujara or (Ajinkya) Rahane or anyone else. You have to bat out of your comfort zone after a certain point to counter the conditions.
It is too early to call for an overhaul but a change of approach is very much needed from the batsmen. Even in Australia, the lower order made those crucial runs. We need players to take the pressure off Kohli and Rohit,” Sarandeep said.
Sarandeep also highlighted the fact that India has not been able to win an ICC event under Kohli despite playing well consistently.
“They deserve to win, they are playing well for over four years but why it is not happening means there is something wrong,” he added.
(PTI inputs)
