We Are Not At All Ready To Play 6th Batter, This Was Slight Stubbornness That We Will Do Like This Only – Aakash Chopra On India Sticking To 5 Bowlers Combo
Published - 15 Jan 2022, 03:05 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:03 AM
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned Indian management for sticking to the 5-bowler combo and not adding an extra batter despite the continuous failure of the batting unit.
In the overseas Tests, India generally field 5 batters, one wicketkeeper-batsman, one spin bowling all-rounder and 4 pacers. However, Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of the series and India added Ravichandran Ashwin to the squad as a spin-bowling all-rounder. He contributed decent runs with the bat but several cricket pundits suggested India to drop Ashwin from the team and add Hanuma Vihari as spinners were not getting much help from the surface.
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However, India didn’t make any changes and they continued playing the same combo in all three games against South Africa and eventually lost the series by 1-2.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted that middle-order batters Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were not in very good form and Rishabh Pant was also out of form before his century in the last innings still India didn’t add depth to the batting unit. He elaborated:
“If your batting is misfiring consistently, then why are you so rigid? Why are you so adamant that you will play five bowlers always, along with five batters and Rishabh Pant. Rishabh Pant did score a century in the last innings, but his performance was okay-okay before that.”
“Rahane is not scoring runs; Pujara is not scoring runs; Kohli has not scored a century, but still, we play five batters. We are not at all ready to play a sixth batter. I mean this was slight stubbornness that we will do like this only.”
When You Look Back, You Will Feel That The Strategy Misfired, And You Became A Bit Too Stubborn – Aakash Chopra
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that India never needed five bowlers in the team because the Proteas batting unit was slightly weak. He said:
“What happened even after doing this? The total idea of this was that even if your team scores 200-225, you have five bowlers, and you will save that but you could not do that. Eventually, you need runs. When there is help in the pitch, and the opposing side’s batting is slightly weak, you don’t need five bowlers.”
Aakash Chopra also said that the strategy to play only 5 batters in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma misfired. He stated:
“You can manage with four bowlers and play an extra batter, but the team said they will not play even if Kohli and Rohit are not there. But when you look back, you will feel that the strategy misfired, and you became a bit too stubborn.”
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