ENG vs IND 2018: Sourav Ganguly & Harbhajan Singh Criticise India's Decision To Not Play Extra Pacer At Lord's

Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh feel Virat Kohli missed a trick by not playing an extra-pacer in the ongoing second England vs India Test at Lord’s.

When it comes to captaincy, Kohli has a knack of springing a surprise every now and then. The fact that he has never played with the same playing eleven in consecutive games pretty much proves that. And the 29-year old raised quite a few surprises with his decision to drop Umesh Yadav and include Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven for the ongoing second Test at Lord’s.

In conditions that were perfectly suited for fast-bowling, Kohli surprisingly decided to play two spinners. And not surprisingly, the move has backfired. While Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have done decently so far, Ashwin and Kuldeep have struggled. Both the spinners have bowled 26 overs so far without taking a wicket. They have also proved costly so far. While Ashwin has conceded 4 runs per over, Kuldeep has been taken for 4.89 runs per over so far.

As a result, India are well on the backfoot in the game. In overcast conditions, England pacers bowled out India for just 107. In reply, the hosts are 357 for 6 at the end of day three.

Ganguly and Harbhajan now feel that India made a mistake by not playing an extra fast-bowler.

“Yes, we needed the extra pacer on this pitch. It’s true that till the ball rolls, it’s very difficult to say how it’s going to play, but Umesh was needed on this pitch,” Ganguly told The Times of India.

“My idea was to go with my best five bowlers. Kuldeep is a good bowler but on these conditions, the extra pacer would probably have been the right option,” he added.

Ganguly then went on to defend Kohli, saying: “It happens sometimes. Kohli does a lot of things right, there can be the odd mistake. Let’s give him the benefit of doubt here.”

Harbhajan also echoed Ganguly’s comments, saying: “You could see the conditions were heavily in the pacers’ favour, especially after the rain.”