Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has suggested that Team India should bring in Ravichandran Ashwin for the match against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday. Gavaskar believes with Hardik Pandya is fit enough to bowl, India can afford to play three spinners.
So far in the tournament, India fielded with two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy. Both of them have failed to trouble the opposition batters in the two games that India have played so far.
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Gavaskar has said India can leave out Varun Chakravarthy and bring in Ashwin as Afghanistan will be able to tackle Varun’s mystery spin as they have a few in their team as well.
“Also, there is no harm in thinking of going with 3 spinners also. And maybe not have somebody like Sharul Thakur or Mohammed Shami. Go in with 2 seamers and 3 spinners because if Hardik can come in and 2 overs of medium pace, you will still have 3 medium pacers in the team,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“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. 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 a Varun Chakravarthy. So definitely, I would look at someone like R Ashwin. If at all, they are looking for someone who will slow the pace down, they can look at Rahul Chahar,” he added.
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Gavaskar further praised Afghanistan and called them an exceptionally dangerous side.
“They are exceptionally dangerous. They are a team that is unafraid to play their shots. They have got mystery spinners. And Indian batsmen in recent times have shown a certain vulnerability when it comes to playing spin, especially back of the hand deliveries. I think they are a banana peel opponent and India should be wary of playing against them,” he said.
Team India will take on Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi.
