After Axar Patel injured his knee before the start of the match, the Indian team opted to field Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Washington Sundar as their three-pronged spin attack. Kuldeep Yadav, who had not played a Test in Australia as well, continues to be on the sidelines.
During an interaction on Aaj Tak, Sunil Gavaskar was asked if the result of the first two days of the Test would have been any different if Kuldeep Yadav was part of the playing XI.
The former Indian skipper responded by stating that the left-arm wrist-spinner might not have had a huge impact either. He reasoned the England batsmen, Joe Root and Dom Sibley in particular, handled the spinners very well by getting to the pitch of the deliveries.
Kuldeep Yadav would have lent variety to the Indian attack: Sunil Gavaskar
However, Sunil Gavaskar acknowledged the presence of Kuldeep Yadav would have given a different dimension to the Indian attack.
The renowned commentator reasoned that Sundar and Ashwin are similar kinds of bowlers, with the former requiring greater assistance from the pitch to cause trouble for the batsmen.
The Indian team management might have opted to play Washington Sundar ahead of Kuldeep Yadav to lend depth to their batting after the former’s exploits in Brisbane. But the move seems to have backfired, as the lanky off-spinner has not looked too threatening and has also failed to keep a check on the scoring rate.
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