Saturday 20 / April / 2024
All eyes were on Virat Kohli when Michael Atherton asked Virat Kohli what’s your squad for the test and the skipper Virat replied two changes which was Yadav and Shardul coming in for Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami as Virat said with four left handers in England side it's a good match for Ravindra Jadeja with his seamers bowling over the wicket.
Did I hear it right, yes I did as Ravichandran Ashwin was again missing from the side in the fourth test which was indeed baffling and surprising to every cricket follower and the tweets for the same went viral.
Ravichandran Ashwin has a terrific record against left handers, he is the only bowler to pick 200 left handers wicket in test cricket of its history of 143 years and his average is mind boggling which is 19.55. Virat Kohli also Ravindra Jadeja adds depth to the batting but his scores in the series so far are 10, 30, 4, 3, 40 and 56 which is around 200 runs in the six innings Jadeja has played. To add it Ravindra Jadeja has just picked up two wickets in the three test matches he has bowled and has been mainly used up the skipper to give a rest to the fast bowlers.
All the cricket Pundits from Michael Vaughan to Politician Shashi Tharoor found the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin with Shashi Tharoor saying omitting Ashwin is like asking for a death wish and Michael Vaughan it's the biggest mistake in test selection in Indian history. There were many who made diplomatic statements after Ashwin’s omission on a ground which is known to help spinners and with the heat wave expected in the next few days, Ashwin absence will be surely felt.
If India goes on to win this test match which is currently in balance with England having a slight edge having bowled India out for 190, it will silence all but no matter what the result not playing Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive test is a mystery even Sherlock Holmes would not be able to solve.
