Former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu has slammed the team management for selecting an unfit Akash Deep for the ongoing fifth Test as well. The pacer had suffered a groin injury during the Lord’s Test and subsequently missed the following match in Manchester as well.
On Monday, August 4, ahead of Day 5, Navjot Singh Sidhu shared a video on his YouTube channel (@NavjotSidhuOfficial), saying: “On the English commentary, it was clearly heard that the question was whether he (Akash Deep) took an injection or not. You are playing a bowler in a Test match after giving him an injection, while a fit left-arm pacer like Arshdeep is sitting on the bench. Why didn’t you play him? Going in with a half-fit bowler is a crime. It is a cardinal, heinous error. Because your other two bowlers, who are meant to be racehorses, end up becoming workhorses.”
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“Look, the most disappointing thing is that you keep compromising on your bowling again and again. Akash Deep, I would say, was a great success story. He won you a match, then got injured. And now you have played a half-fit Akash Deep. Today, it was completely exposed. The ball is going a foot wide on the left side. He is not able to bend. He cannot get down. He is trying to play football, and even that he cannot manage. He is clearly in discomfort,” he again added.
However, Navjot Singh Sidhu also stated that relying on just three seamers could take a toll on Mohammed Siraj as well, who has already bowled over 180 overs across nine innings so far as well.
“You will end up breaking Siraj too. He will also break down. Because you only have three bowlers. Look at England. They played four fast bowlers. One got injured, and they still had three. Now you have just three, and not even a proper three. It is not even two and a half now. And to be fair, it is not Akash Deep’s fault. If he is injured, then he is injured. He was injured during the IPL, came back, and now he is as fragile as a touch-me-not plant. I think there have been around 13 changes. Bowlers keep coming and going,” Navjot Singh Sidhu concluded.
