Former Indian cricketer R Ashwin has come down heavily on the team management for not picking Kuldeep Yadav in the first ODI of the three-match series against Australia on Sunday, October 19. The Men in Blue ended up losing the rain-curtailed contest by seven wickets. Ashwin felt the left-arm wrist-spinner could have been a handful because of the over-spin he would have generated.
“I can understand why they’re playing two spinners in the game along with Nitish Kumar Reddy, they want the batting depth
because both Washington and Axar can bat. But man, at least give some attention to the bowling too. On these big grounds, if Kuldeep can’t bowl with a lot of freedom, where will he bowl then? And there’s going to be over-spin which will help him get bounce as well,” stated Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin opined that the batters did not contribute adequately. The off-spinning legend felt that Kuldeep should have been a sure shot part of the team in the series-opening clash.
"They'll talk about batting depth. But if you want to build your game around batting depth, then the batters have to take responsibility, right? It’s the job of the batters to score runs. If you’re playing an extra batter, it’s again about shielding the batters. How many all-rounders do you need? You already have three all-rounders. There was a time when there were no all-rounders. You’ve got Washington, you’ve got Axar, and you’ve got Nitish. With all this, if you still can’t play your best spinner, I don’t get it at all,” he added.
Indiacould score only 136/9 in their allocated 26 overs. Mitchell Marsh's team did not have any difficulty in chasing down the target. He ended up unbeaten on 46 off 52 and earned the Player of the Match award too.
