World No.1 Test team, India is chasing the world record of winning 10 consecutive Test series, but they are 0-1 down in the three-match Test series and they are already been criticized for the team selection in the first two Test.

However, former Indian cricketer Mohinder Amarnath has expressed his views on the selections as he reckons that Jasprit Bumrah’s inclusion in teh Test squad is pretty impressive. He also suggested that including Bumrah will provide the visitors with more variations in the bowling attack. However, he was surprised with Ajinkya Rahane’s exclusion from the first two games.

As quoted in TOI, Amarnath said, “I was a little surprised that a player of Ajinkya Rahane’s caliber was ignored. True, he is going through a lean patch but that happens to all good players. Some players like to play on a faster track; he’s one of those who like the ball to come on to the bat and struggles sometimes on slower wickets. Bumrah’s inclusion in this format is a good sign for India. Now they have a lot of variation as far as bowling is concerned whenever the team plays overseas.”

Mohinder Amarnath was particularly impressed with Hardik Pandya who batted with intent in the first innings of the Cape Town Test. He said, “Pandya should keep playing the way he did in the first innings [of 1st Test]. He loves hitting the ball and that’s the way to go. He also should bat higher as he can take the attack to the opposition. India need to show more guts against pace bowling and need someone at the top to come through.”

The veteran cricketers further elaborated, “Whenever you play overseas, the first Test is always very challenging. This is because after playing on slower, flatter, low bounce pitches at home suddenly you go abroad and you don’t get much match practice before the big game. It does take some time to get used to the bounce and pace but we were beaten fair and square. I was expecting the bowlers to do well and always felt that it could be challenging for the batsmen to continue the form they show at home.”

Amarnath also showered praised the South African bowlers as he feels that their line and lengths to the Indian batsmen who struggled to counter them were impeccable.