Former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has said that he has not seen Team Indian with “such body language in a long time” and said that the consistent exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin needs to be investigated. India suffered a horrifying 8-wicket loss against New Zealand on Sunday, following up on their 10-wicket defeat to Pakistan in the tournament opener a week earlier.
As per the quotes in PTI, Dilip Vengasarkar said, “The team looked off-colored and players looked jaded. I don’t know if it is bio bubble fatigue or something else, I have not seen such body language in the players in a long time. It was quite a lackluster performance, be it in batting or bowling. This format demands you to be energetic from ball one.”
ALSO READ: BCCI Will Allow Crowd During New Zealand Tour To India, KL Rahul To Lead
In the first two games, India decided to go with Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja as the two spinners, leaving out Ashwin who has made the white ball team after four years.
Talking about the same, Dilip Vengasarkar said, “Why is Ashwin being so dropped for so long? It is a matter of investigation. Across formats, he is your best spinner with more than 600 international wickets. He is your senior-most spinner and you don’t pick him. “I fail to understand. He didn’t play a single game in the England Test series also. Why do you pick him then? It is a mystery to me.”
Hardik Pandya was seen bowling for the first time in the tournament on Sunday but has not bowled regularly in a long time and is being picked more as a specialist batter.
Talking about Hardik, Vengasarkar said, “We are too top-three dependant. When they don’t fire, the team is in trouble more often than not. I can’t talk about Hardik’s fitness sitting here. All I can say is that as an all-rounder if you are not able to contribute with bat and ball, you are going to be under pressure.”
ALSO READ: Sunil Gavaskar Feels Loss Against Pakistan Dented Team India’s Self-confidence
About Rohit Sharma’s demotion to number three to accommodate Ishan Kishan, Vengsarkar said it seemed like a one-off move since Suryukumar Yadav had back spasms. Most of the batters failed to clear the boundary in Dubai and that is another worry for Vengsarkar.
