Dilip Vengsarkar, the former chief selector, says he has not seen the Indian team as “off coloured” as it was against New Zealand in a long time and called for an investigation into Ravichandran Ashwin’s repeated exclusion from the playing eleven.
Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled 2 overs and finished with figures of 2/8 during India’s T20 World Cup warm-up match against Australia. Ravichandran Ashwin – who had a rather barren IPL 2021 — picked up two scalps in one over early in the innings to scuttle Australia’s prospects of getting a big score.
Dilip Vengsarkar Wants Investigation For Repeated Exclusion Of Ravichandran Ashwin In 4 Tests Against England And League Matches In T20I World Cup
The 34-year-old Ravichandran Ashwin last played white-ball cricket for India in 2017 before being sidelined from one-day cricket following the Champions Trophy debacle. Ravichandran Ashwin has last featured in an ODI and T20I in 2017 in June-July against West Indies.
He was left out from all 4 Tests that India played on the England tour, despite being the leading wicket-taker in the group by picking up 413 wickets in the 79 Tests he has played for India, at an excellent average of 24.56.
“The team looked off coloured and the players looked jaded. I don’t know if it is the bio bubble fatigue or something else, I have not seen such body language in the players in a long time, Dilip Vengsarkar said a day after India’s eight-wicket loss to New Zealand.
“It was quite a lacklustre performance, be it in batting or bowling. This format demands you to be energetic from ball one,” added the former India captain.
In the first two games, India picked Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja as the two spinners, leaving out Ravichandran Ashwin, who has made the white ball team after four years. Dilip Vengsarkar can’t fathom the logic behind picking Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad if he is not going to play.
“Why is Ashwin being dropped for so long? It is a matter of investigation. Across formats he is your best spinner with more than 600 international wickets. He is your senior most spinner and you don’t pick him. I fail to understand. He didn’t play a single game in the England Test series also. Why do you pick him then? It is a mystery to me, ” Dilip Vengsarkar said
India will next face Afghanistan in their third match on November 3 in Abu Dhabi in the hope of turning their campaign around in the United Arab Emirates. It’s a must-win match for India.
Dilip Vengsarkar Said India Is Too Top Three Dependent And Wants To Have Bigger Boundaries In IPL
Hardik Pandya bowled for the first time in the tournament on Sunday against Kiwis but has not bowled regularly in a long time and is being picked more as a specialist batter.
“We are too top-three dependent. When they don’t fire, the team is in trouble more often than not. I can’t talk about Hardik’s fitness sitting here. All I can say is that as an all-rounder if you are not able to contribute with bat and ball, you are going to be under pressure, ” Dilip Vengsarkar said
About Rohit Sharma’s demotion to number three to accommodate Ishan Kishan, Dilip Vengsarkar said it seemed like a one-off move since Suryakumar Yadav was injured. Most of the batters failed to clear the boundary in Dubai, and that is another worry for Dilip Vengsarkar.
“We need to have bigger boundaries in the IPL, especially in India. Most of our batters were caught in the deep yesterday,” the 65-year-old added.
Ishan Kishan opened the batting along with KL Rahul while Rohit Sharma dropped to No. 3, but even that move didn’t work. Ishan Kishan scored just 4 runs from 8 balls, while Rohit Sharma made 14 from as many balls in India’s below-par total of 110 for 7 in 20 overs against New Zealand.
They ended up posting 110 for 7 in stipulated 20 overs, in which they didn’t effectively score runs in nine of those overs (54 dot balls). Worse, they were just able to hit a single boundary between overs 8 and 15 when two spinners-Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner, were in operation. Indian batsmen Ishan Kishan (4 runs off 8 balls), Rohit Sharma (14 off 14), KL Rahul (18 off 16), Virat Kohli (9 off 17), Rishabh Pant (12 off 19) failed when it mattered most.