IND vs ENG: Ravi Shastri takes a dig at India’s team selection in Vizag, questions Mukesh Kumar’s inclusion
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The Newz Radar
Visakhapatnam: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has taken a dig at the Indian team management’s squad choice for the second Test match against England in Visakhapatnam.
Shastri, who proposed the inclusion of Washington Sundar for the match, thinks India have considerably weakened their batting by including Mukesh. India currently trail the five-match Test series 0-1 and will look to bounce back from their disappointing loss in Hyderabad.
“My only concern is picking Mukesh Kumar over Washington Sundar. How much of use will Mukesh be, especially after India is batting first on this Vizag surface,” Ravi Shastri said while on commentary duty for the second Test match.
Considering India’s struggles in the opening Test match in Hyderabad, the batting unit has been under pressure despite scoring 436 in the first innings. India were 107/5 in the second innings which paved the way for the collapse and eventually handed England a precious win.
Sundar was only called into the Indian team at the last moment when KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were ruled out due to injury. The duo is not fit to play the Vizag contest that kick-started on Friday (Feb 2), again weakening the batting unit.
In the absence of the duo, Rajat Patidar has been handed a debut while Sarfaraz Khan, another last-moment call-up, will warm the bench. There was a direct tussle between Patidar and Sarfaraz for a place in the Playing XI, but the former got the nod. However, in the ultimate Playing XI, neither Sundar nor Sarafraz have been included in the Indian team.
India won the toss and have opted to bat first with them making two forced changes in the form of Jadeja and Rahul. England on the other hand have handed a debut to Shoaib Bashir who missed the first Test due to visa issues. James Anderson has also been recalled into the side with Mark Wood dropping to the bench for the visitors.
