Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes that Team India will miss Kuldeep Yadav in the bowling department on a pitch that has offered no real assistance to the bowlers. The Indian finger spinners did not have any assistance from the pitch at the Queen’s Park Oval, as the West Indies batter played decently to finish Day 3 on 229-5.
Coming into the game on Day 3, West Indies had a decent outing with the bat on a rain-curtailed game, as the batters tried to bat out hard against the mighty Indian bowling attack. Meanwhile, in 1st innings, Rohit Sharma-led side once again played a dominating brand of cricket against the Men in Maroon as they posted a massive total of 487 runs in the 1st innings with Virat Kohli scoring his 29th International century.
Speaking on his youtube channel, Aakash Chopra hailed debutant Mukesh Kumar for his maiden wicket in International cricket and also lauded the Indian bowlers for their disciplined bowling on Day 3, which has no assistance to the bowlers and reckoned that India should have played an extra spinner in the team.
“Mukesh Kumar got his first wicket, which was very good because the first wicket is important. You got disciplined bowling from Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj – everyone. One thing was definitely there this was not the pitch where you should have probably played three fast bowlers,” Aakash Chopra said.
Mukesh Kumar picked up his maiden wicket in International cricket as a reward for his consistent bowling on the tough surface in West Indies as he troubled the West Indies batter with his right line and length alongside Mohammed Siraj with spinner bowling for one end.
India Should Have Played Axar Patel Here – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra questioned India’s team selection for the 2nd test against the West Indies team as he feels the Indian team will miss Axar Patel or someone like Kuldeep Yadav if he was named in the squad as the pitch looked dead as he could have a more lethal than the finger spinner.
“India should have played Axar Patel here and if you had a bowler named Kuldeep Yadav in your squad, you could have played him on such pitches. When the pitch is more dead, a wrist-spinner can do a better job than a finger-spinner,” Aakash Chopra added.
Kuldeep Yadav could not find a place in the India test squad due to the presence of experienced Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with Axar Patel being his backup for them. He has only featured in eight Tests, claiming 34 wickets at an average of 21.55, and could be a key player for India in the longer format of the game.