The famous commentator Aakash Chopra has raised an important question about whether Washington Sundar’s call-up to the Test squad for the New Zealand series suggests that spinner Ravichandran Ashwin might be injured.
Chopra is puzzled by Sundar’s selection since Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav are already part of the team.
On October 20, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Sundar’s addition to the squad for the last two Tests against New Zealand.
The announcement didn’t give any other details, just that Sundar was added to the team. Now, India has Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar, Kuldeep, and Sundar as spinners, along with pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Siraj.
Sundar earned this call-up after a fantastic performance for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, where he scored 152 runs batting at No.3 and took three wickets in Delhi’s first innings.
In a discussion on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra shared his confusion over Sundar’s selection. He wondered if Sundar was included because Ashwin might not be fully fit, especially since Ashwin bowled so little on the last day of the Bengaluru Test.
“Washington Sundar is in the team, which was somewhat unexpected, though he just scored a century. He did well for Tamil Nadu against Delhi. The question is—what’s the team’s thinking? Do they want another spinner? They already have many fast bowlers as reserves. Is Ashwin not completely fit?”Was his limited bowling on the last day a sign of this? It doesn’t make sense not to use Ashwin if he’s fit. What’s the logic? Since he didn’t bowl much, does this mean he’s carrying an injury, and Sundar is a similar type of player?”
Chopra also noted that Rohit Sharma faced criticism for not using Ashwin earlier when New Zealand was trying to chase a small target.
Chopra speculated that Sundar might have been included in case the team wanted to play three spinners suggesting they might leave out Kuldeep Yadav to challenge New Zealand’s batsmen Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, who have been scoring runs.
