Ahead of the do-or-die match against Afghanistan at the ongoing T20 World Cup, legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar has asserted that there is no harm in going into the clash with three spinners and with Hardik Pandya resuming his bowling duties, the Men In Blue now have the luxury to play one less fast bowler. During a chat with India Today, he was asked if including R Ashwin in the playing XI.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “There is no harm in thinking of going with three spinners also. And maybe not have somebody like Shardul Thakur or Mohammed Shami. Go in with two-seamers and three spinners because if Hardik can come in, you will still have three medium pacers in the team. A top-class spinner like R Ashwin, it doesn’t make any difference whether he is bowling to a right-hander or a left-hander.”
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The legendary cricketer also claimed it would be easy for the Afghanistan batters to handle the mystery of Varun Chakravarthy. He justified his claim by pointing that the team itself “have a plethora of all these mystery spinners” once again making Ashwin a handy bowler in the XI.
Elaborating the same, Sunil Gavaskar said, “Having a look at the number of mystery spinners that Afghanistan themselves have, look at someone like Mujeeb and some of the others who they don’t play in the XI, they have a plethora of all these mystery spinners. So it might be easy for them to pick someone like Varun Chakravarthy. So definitely, I would look at someone like R Ashwin.”
Sunil Gavaskar also suggested that India should return to Rohit Sharma as the opener. He then added if Suryakumar Yadav has recovered from the back spasm, then the middle-order batter should return to the playing XI to replace Ishan Kishan.
Explaining the same, Sunil Gavaskar said, “He’s (Rohit) will bat at the top of the order it’s simple as that. This will help Ishan Kishan if Suryakumar Yadav is not fit still, I think it will help Ishan Kishan if he is batting at five or six because that’s the situation he’ll find himself in. But open with Rohit Sharma.”
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Sharing his views of Suryakumar, Sunil Gavaskar feels that the batter has had a happy outing in Abu Dhabi, a factor that the team should consider before naming their playing XI.
