IND vs SA: It's A Decent And Reasonably A Well-Balanced Squad – Gautam Gambhir On India's 18-member Test Squad For The SA Tour

Former Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir feels that the Indian selection committee has named a decent and reasonably well-balanced 18-member Test squad for the upcoming South Africa series.

The India tour of South Africa is set to begin from December 26 and India will play 3 Tests and as many as ODIs in the tour and Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma will be leading the team in the Test series. Notably, Ajinkya Rahane who was the vice-captain of the red-ball team has been demoted.

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Speaking on the Star Sports show Follow the Blues Gambhir said that India doesn’t have a left-arm spinner as Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja got ruled out due to injuries but India have a champion off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. He said:

“It’s a decent squad. It’s a reasonably well-balanced squad. Obviously, you don’t have a left-arm spinner. You have got two off-spinners plus six seamers. Obviously the conditions will help the seamers plus you have got Ravichandran Ashwin, who is your No.1 spinner,” Gautam Gambhir said.

18-member Squad Has Been Selected, That’s The Best Thing – Sanjay Bangar

Former cricketer Sanjay Bangar was pleased to see an 18-member Test squad for the tour as he feels that with a 22-member squad it become difficult to control the energy and focus of the team.

“India’s team has been selected for South Africa and an 18-member squad has been selected, that’s the best thing because more the number of players.

“The work becomes more and the team management can face some difficulties in controlling the energy and focus of the team. So taking 18 players instead of 22 is the most positive thing,” Bangar stated.

Bangar also said that the combination of India’s Test squad is right with 5 pacers, one pace bowling all-rounder and two spinners.

“Other than that, I think the combination is also right. A lot of emphasis has been placed on having five seam bowlers, one seam-bowling all-rounder, two off-spinners and plenty of options in the middle-order.

“So, I believe that this is a very good team, wherein there are enough options from the bowling point of view for the fast and the bouncy pitches of South Africa.”

India’s Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj.

Also Read: Ashes 2021-22: This Is What England Do Against The Best Teams: Michael Vaughan Lashes Out At England After First Test Loss

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