A tough choice stands in India’s path about choosing the right India Playing XI against Bangladesh in their opening ICC Champions Trophy clash. Reports claim that ace superstar Ravindra Jadeja is set to miss out on the game. Instead, it will be all-rounder Washington Sundar who will get the nod. Piyush Chawla and Mike Hesson too have claimed that opting for Jadeja might have been the better option for the Men in Blue.
A day prior to the game, during India’s practice session, Ravindra Jadeja was spotted engaged in an animated conversation with India Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir. The Star Sports experts revealed that Gambhir might have broken the news that Jadeja would be dropped from the game.
Plethora of spin options for Team India
India has 5 spin options in the ICC event. Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy are the specialists, while Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar are the all-rounders. But India will likely prefer Sundar against Bangladesh owing to three left-handed batters for the opponents.
Bangladesh has quite a few left-handed batters, with the opening trio of Tanzid Hasan and Soumya Sarkar and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto all being southpaws. “There are a lot of left-handers in the Bangladesh playing XI. But these two cricketers have done really well for India. But I think in the first game, they should have gone in with Jadeja and Axar because Kuldeep can take the ball away from the left-handers,” Piyush Chawla said on Star Sports.
On the other hand, former RCB and New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson claimed that Jadeja displayed body language where he was not happy. “He’s (Jadeja) not playing. You can tell from the body language that he’s being told he’s not playing. (Gambhir is saying), ‘That’s my decision. I’ve made it. You may not agree with it but thank you very much. You may go on to play the next one but for the first match, we’re playing the off-spinner,” Hesson said.
