In just a few more days, Team India will make their much-awaited return on the field. The MA Chidambaram will host the opening India vs Bangladesh Test. Earlier this month, BCCI unveiled a 16-man squad for the first Test. Head coach Gautam Gambhir opted for a full-strength squad, indicating his ambition to confirm the WTC final berth for the third time running.
However, when almost all players are fit and available, selection headaches are bound to happen. One such headache would be to choose between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav – a choice for the third spinner. However, former India player Dinesh Karthik has come up with a different perspective, and has opted to chose neither of the two left-arm tweakers.
Axar or Kuldeep? Dinesh Karthik says none!
While talking in his Cricbuzz show, Dinesh Karthik was quizzed about who should India ideally choose between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as a third spin option. However, Karthik, who has played, 180 international matches for India, feels that the Men in Blue might not even need a third spinner in this series.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach asserted that the team might prepare bouncy pitches, knowing that it won’t be that easy to beat Bangladesh on raging turners.
“I get the feeling that India is going to play on a slightly pace-oriented pitches, knowing that it is a good way to beat Bangladesh. Also, they’ll be preparing for the Australian Test series (BGT) that is coming Down Under end of this year. I think they’ll (India) only be playing two spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja followed by three fast bowlers,” said Dinesh Karthik on Cricbuzz.
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Karthik might not be wrong!
Well, Dinesh Karthik won’t be wrong too! After all, it was only yesterday when we got to know that Gautam Gambhir’s Team India might be preparing for a red-soil surface, rather than a traditional black soil in Chennai. Red-soil often provide extra bounce, and it is ideal to have three pacers lined up for that. While Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are certain starters, if India opt for 3 pacers and 2 spinners combination, the toss-up will be between Yash Dayal and Akash Deep.
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