[ad_1]
With only eight days to go before India kick off their World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia in Chennai, the team incurred a blow as Axar Patel was ruled out of the tournament on Thursday. India revealed the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin as his replacement. But while India’s pre-World Cup plans hint at Ashwin being a third spinner to Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, hence implying limited opportunities throughout the tournament, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar feels that the veteran offie can emerge to be a key factor if picked in the playing XI.
A tear in the quadriceps muscle during the Asia Cup campaign ended Axar’s World Cup dream. He thereafter missed the final against Sri Lanka and was later rested for the first two games against Australia to recover. But while BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar was confident of Axar regaining fitness in time for the third match against the Aussies, he failed to recover and was subsequently dropped from the World Cup squad.
Despite Ashwin’s addition to the final 15, he is most likely to serve as a back-up with India giving Jadeja, an all-rounder, and Kuldeep, a wrist-spinner, a go in the XI, along with three fast bowlers. But Gavaskar, in conversation with Star Sports on their YouTube show, highlighted that India have a bowling issue in the middle overs and hence Ashwin should be picked in the XI given his ability to use his experience and deceive the batter during that bowling phase.
‘Ashwin’s experience will be a key factor’: Gavaskar
“To start with the new ball there is Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami…I don’t know if all three of them will play in the World Cup, but these three are world-class bowlers. We saw Bumrah took a little bit of a hammering in Rajkot against Australia. He is too experienced a bowler to repeat those mistakes.
“But that is not to worry. It is the middle overs which is…we saw what good pitch this was so players can play through the line when the ball is not deviating or turn or bounce. And this is where Ashwin with his experience and his canniness will play as a key factor. I’m not sure if they will play him in the XI for the big matches but he is the kind if bowler who can actually get you wickets in the middle overs, and that doesn’t allow partnerships to build and subsequently, a team can be restricted to a low total,” he said.
India will play their first warm-up game ahead of the World Cup on Saturday in Guwahati against England before taking on Netherlands in the second match on October 2.
[ad_2]
Source link