Venkatapathy Raju Wanted Ravichandran Ashwin To Become First-Choice Spinner In 1st England Test

A wicket-taking bowler Ravichandran Ashwin should have been India’s first-choice spinner in the first Test against England, believes the former India spinner, Venkatapathy Raju. Although, Raju understands why the final decision was to let Ravindra Jadeja play instead. 

The replacement of Ashwin in the Indian team lineup for the opening Test surprised some cricket insiders. Virat Kohli’s team remained with Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj as four seamers, and one spinner in Jadeja. 

Venkatapathy Raju didn’t like the decision to replace the bowler who had taken 400 wickets before the first Test against England. Although, he admitted that the team’s management is the only one to judge whether to include any player in its lineup or not. The Indian team went in with one spinner and four seamers while England went in without a spinner.   

“There is a lot of discussion about it. Jadeja comes in as an all-rounder whenever you go abroad. That is the problem one spinner faces. When Harbhajan was doing well, Sourav got him in and Kumble also had to go through this. We all feel Ashwin should have been part of the XI as he is a wicket-taking bowler. Ashwin should have been the first-choice spinner,” said the former India spinner.

The first Test between India and England ended in a draw after rain prevented both teams from showing their best on the final day of the Test. The visitors had nine wickets in hand and needed 157 runs to win, but the weather messed up their plans. The second Test will take place at Lord’s from August 12.