Asia Cup 2018- Super 4 Match 1: India vs Bangladesh: Ajit Agarkar Feels India Should Play Extra Seamer in Hardik Pandya's Place

Former Indian fast bowler Ajit Agarkar feels that India should play an extra seamer in place of Hardik Pandya who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament after sustaining acute back spasm in the last match against Pakistan. They have been forced to name Deepak Chahar as the replacement for Hardik Pandya. It will be a tricky situation for Team India to decide whether to go for an extra seamer or an all-rounder in the form of a Ravindra Jadeja who has also made a comeback in the ODI squad at the expense of Axar Patel. He was also injured and will miss the tournament alongside Shardul Thakur. Jadeja and Siddharth Kaul have been named as their replacements.

Agarkar feels that if Jadeja is given the chance that will mean as many as 4 spinners in the playing XI. Jadeja lost his place in the ODI side due to his inability to take wickets in the middle overs. Agarkar doubts that whether he will be drafted into the playing XI straightaway after being in the fringes for quite a while.

Ajit Agarkar feels India should play an extra seamer against Bangladesh

When asked about his opinion during an interview with the ESPN Cricinfo, Agarkar stated that if he was the captain he would have definitely played an extra seamer. However, he was not quite sure whether to play Siddharth Kaul or Khaleel Ahmed. The left-arm pacer made his debut against Hong Kong and was quite impressive bagging three crucial wickets.

However, he was dropped from the next game in favour of Jasprit Bumrah. However, the injury sustained by Hardik Pandya has again opened the gates for a return of Khaleel. However given the experience of Siddharth Kaul or a Ravindra Jadeja, there are possibilities that these two might get a look in.

India faces Bangladesh in a few minutes time from now and they will surely begin as outright favourites for the all-important Super 4 clash. Bangladesh, on the other hand, will be a worried unit in the absence of Tamim Iqbal. They played some quality cricket against Sri Lanka. However, against Afghanistan, they were lacklustre and ended up losing the match by a massive margin of 146 runs.