Nathan Lyon is the 8th most successful wicket-taker in Test cricket history. But despite that, he’s not the best spinner in the world. Just above him sits Ravichandran Ashwin, who has just 4 scalps more than him (536 to 532). Lyon has a golden opportunity to leapfrog him and become the active highest wicket-taker in red-ball cricket, but he’s not happy about it. He’s actually surprised.
Lyon shocked by no Ashwin-Jadeja in Perth
Surprised by the fact that Ashwin, his biggest competitor, wasn’t picked for the India vs Australia 1st Test. Not just Ashwin but Ravindra Jadeja, who’s the fifth-highest active wicket-taker, wasn’t selected either. Instead, the Indian management went with Washington Sundar.
It’s nearly unfathomable that you have Ashwin and Jadeja in your squad and you select neither one of them. The last time both were available to be selected and neither played was 2014 in Adelaide. It wasn’t just Lyon who was shocked; many experts and ex-players rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they read the team sheet.
“It more than surprises me. That’s the quality of Indian cricketers they have in that squad. You’ve got Ashwin with 530-odd wickets (536) and then Jadeja with over 300 wickets (319). It’s pretty remarkable to see the quality of players sitting on the bench,” Lyon said before the India vs Australia 2nd Test.
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Washington Sundar over Ashwin-Jadeja in Perth as well?
Since it’s happened once already, it won’t be shocking that Washington plays ahead of the veteran in the Pink Ball Test either. It’s been reported that the youngsters will feature in Adelaide as well. The move turned out well as Washington got two wickets and scored some valuable runs with Virat Kohli in the second innings. Dropping him now wouldn’t make sense.
India’s squad for Australia Test series
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal
