Former Pakistan player Salman Butt shared that the debate regarding whether Ravichandran Ashwin should be there in the Lord’s Test is pointless now. He further added that when a decision doesn’t work for them, there is a tendency to think that the move was a wrong one.
However, for the second time in a row, India chose Ravindra Jadeja ahead of R Ashwin. Jadeja is yet to claim a wicket whereas he has bowled 22 overs in the first innings of the Lord’s Test and ended with figures of 0 for 43 as well.
Salman Butt said on his YouTube channel: “When plans don’t work out, people always feel that the person sitting outside should have been in and vice-versa. These are afterthoughts, when the results of the decision start coming in. But when India picked four fast bowlers, their aim was to bowl first.””Virat Kohli also mentioned this after he lost the toss. Personally, at Lord’s, Ravichandran Ashwin could have been as effective as any other fast bowler. On the last two days, spinners get a lot of purchase at this venue. Because of the slope, at times, England batters found it difficult against Ravindra Jadeja as well.”
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Salman Butt further added: “Ashwin is definitely a much better spinner that Jadeja. He could have offered a different variety being a specialist spinner. But things always seem wiser in hindsight. If India go on to win this Test, then everything will seem fine again. There are still two days left in the Test. You never know.”
On the other hand, former Pakistan bowler Danish Kaneria feels that India have made a big mistake by not adding Ravichandran Ashwin in their playing XI in the ongoing second. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaneria opened up on this matter.
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“I want to talk about the magician, Ashwin. How is he not playing? I’ve been saying this from day 1 that Ashwin needs to play at Lord’s. He has variations, can bowl from different angles. He has the carrom balls, and the way the pitch is turning out to be – we saw this with Moeen Ali, we saw that with Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin has a good height, gets good bounce, and the slope would have helped him even further,” he shared.
“Ravindra Jadeja can contain runs, but Ashwin has bowled well .and picked wickets on all kinds of surfaces. Not including Ashwin, I fee,l is a mistake by India. I hope that after this Test match, India don’t regret not playing Ashwin,” Kaneria concluded.
