Before the start of the ongoing third Test against Australia, India head coach Ravi Shastri had raised quite a few eyebrows with his injury update on allrounder Ravindra Jadeja. The Indian team-management was facing the heat for not playing Jadeja in the second Test and Shastri later said that the allrounder has been carrying an injury from even before he landed in Australia. Shastri’s comment only made things worse for him as Jadeja was named in the 13-man squad for the Perth Test.
Shastri had said Jadeja was only 70-80% fit in Perth before going on to add he would be picked in Melbourne if he is 80% fit. And just a couple of days after Shastri’s comments, Jadeja was named in India’s playing eleven for the Melbourne Test.
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And now, India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has added another dimension to the whole episode by contradicting with Shastri, thus once again showing the lack of communication between the selectors and the team-management. The former India wicketkeeper said that Jadeja was “absolutely fit” when picked for the Australia tour.
“On the eve of any selection meeting, the selection committee is given a fitness report of all the players,” Prasad told reporters in Melbourne. “In that report, Jadeja was absolutely fit. So we picked him. After we picked him, he went and played Ranji Trophy also, he bowled 60 overs [64, against Railways]. So there is no question of him being unfit at the time of selection.”
The Indian team-management is facing the heat for not playing any spinner in the second Test. With the Perth pitch covered in grass, the visitors played the game with four pacers and paid the price. While Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon picked up eight wickets, India did not have any frontline spinner to exploit the conditions. Australia had gone on to win the game by 146 runs and level the series.
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