Cannot Promise to Play Two Spinners in South Africa to be Honest: Virat Kohli

Nov 23, 2017 at 5:49 PM

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Cannot Promise to Play Two Spinners in South Africa to be Honest: Virat Kohli

Team India skipper Virat Kohli has stated that their two frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja may not feature together during the tough tour of South Africa next year. With the South African tracks favouring the quicks, it would be a wise decision to pick any of the two depending on the conditions and how many left-handed batsmen are there in the opposition team.

India will fly to South Africa on December 27 following the completion of the series against Sri Lanka which concludes on 24th December. Speaking on the team composition for the series against South Africa Kohli told reporters that he cannot commit that two spinners will be played in South Africa and the team combination will pan out depending on the balance of the team.

“I can’t commit to that 100 percent when we play abroad that we will be playing with two spinners, to be honest. It is because we need to have a look at the balance of the side as well. Obviously, those two guys with their batting abilities are both contenders to start a Test match depending upon the batsmen we are up against in the opposition,” Kohli said.

India Vs Sri Lanka, Eden Gardens, Kolkata, Test Drawn, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami
Ashwin went wicketless at Eden Gardens. Photo Credit: BCCI.

India has a sensational home Test season before the start of IPL 2017 and ended up winning 10 out of the 13 Tests and suffered only a solitary loss at the hands of Australia. Both Ashwin and Jadeja played a pivotal role in helping India reach the No 1 position in Tests. While Ashwin bagged 81 wickets in 13 games breaking the record of Kapil Dev for most wickets by an Indian on a home season.

Jadeja also bowled consistently and finished with 72 wickets which also helped him rise to the top of the ICC Rankings for Bowlers in Tests. Kohli conceded the fact that the angle which a spinner makes to batsmen is the most vital criteria for picking a particular spinner in these situations.

“It’s very important to understand if a left-arm spinner is bowling to five right-handers or the off-spinner is bowling to four left-handers. Just because of the angle the ball coming in makes so much difference against a spinner. And it can turn away from you at some stage in the Test match. Those are very minor factors that you assess before picking the first spinner in overseas conditions.”

Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Challenging Spell, India, Subcontinent, JLT Sheffield Shield, Western Australia,
Jadeja is placed second in the ICC Test bowling rankings. Photo Credit: AFP.
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