Saba Karim wants Team India to select veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in their playing XI for their crucial Super 4 clash against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, September 6. While speaking on India News Sports, he suggested that the seasoned campaigner should replace batting all-rounder Deepak Hooda for the next game as well. Karim opined that India must have five frontline bowlers, with Hardik Pandya being the sixth bowling option as well.
He stated: “Ravichandran Ashwin should play against Sri Lanka and, unfortunately, Deepak Hooda will have to miss out. They must go back to playing with a combination of five bowlers and Hardik Pandya as the sixth bowling option.”
Meanwhile, Reetinder Singh Sodhi also mentioned that R Ashwin must feature in the playing XI, considering his experience in India’s lineup. He also highlighted that he would prove to be effective against Sri Lanka, as they have a lot of left-handed batters on their side as well. He also added that the Indian bowlers failed to deliver under pressure against Pakistan as well.
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“Ravichandran Ashwin will have to come in for Ravi Bishnoi. Sri Lanka have a number of left-handers in their batting lineup and they have done well in this tournament. To counter that, you will need someone who has experience. India must strengthen their bowling.”We now know that this bowling can succumb under pressure. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been in top-class form. But when there was pressure, he conceded 19 runs. They will need some experience and I think Ashwin is the only option that we can go to at this stage,” Saba Karim again shared.
Karim suggested that the team already have enough spin options and they would have benefited by adding an extra pace bowler as well. He also mentioned that Hardik Pandya had to deal with added pressure as he was the fifth bowler for the team against Pakistan.
He stated: “We saw how pacers played a major role in the first two matches. The selectors should have picked Deepak Chahar as Ravindra Jadeja’s replacement as they went with three pacers in the earlier games. We already had three spinners in the squad. This shows that the selectors didn’t think much while naming the replacement.”
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“The selectors made a mistake by not having a reserve seamer in the squad. If they would have done that, then the reserve bowler could have straightaway replaced Avesh Khan in the playing XI.”We had stuck to the ploy of having five frontline bowlers and Hardik Pandya as the sixth bowling option in the last few months and it has proved to be successful. But we didn’t do that this time and Hardik had to be the fifth bowler. This added more pressure on Pandya as he has not played the role of a fifth bowler since his return,” Saba Karim concluded.
India will next play on Tuesday, September 6, against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Stadium.
