Ashwin calls out India’s obsession with the No. 8 batsman, saying it was a no-brainer to play Kuldeep Yadav in Manchester.

Spin superstar R Ashwin criticized the selection of Shardul Thakur over Kuldeep Yadav for the fourth match, saying that India’s fixation with a deeper batting lineup may have simply prevented them from selecting their strongest playing XI for the Manchester Test.

With 358 in the first innings, India had a terrible day with the ball. On Day 2, England scored 225/2 at an incredible run rate of 4.89 rpo with to the quick innings of openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, who reduced the lead to only 133 runs by stumps. Replacing the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul walked in at number 7 and scored 41. However, the Mumbai all-rounder was only entrusted by captain Shubman Gill with five of the 46 overs bowled, conceding 35 runs.

“You see, even though the No. 8 hitter might score 20–30 more runs, the tone of the Test match could shift if that player takes two or three wickets. The management decided to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at Lord’s and Birmingham, I’ll admit that was an okay decision, because he is a top-six calibre batter, and he is not Ben Stokes yet, but there is skill in his bowling,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“Kuldeep is a no-brainer to play.”

Ashwin claimed he was unable to comprehend why Kuldeep Yadav, India’s top wrist-spinner, had been benched during the tour thus far and was not considered for the team at Old Trafford.

It was obvious to play Kuldeep Yadav after Nitish Kumar Reddy was removed from the starting lineup at number six. Your fast bowling assault is exhausting, and Siraj was exhausting after fifteen full days of cricket. Despite efforts to regulate Bumrah’s workload, the task remains challenging. India is seriously missing Kuldeep Yadav, and England leads the Test match. Bumrah cannot be run to the ground by Shubman Gill’s six-over or seven-over periods. Ashwin continued, “I thought the spinners could have been rotated more effectively.”

“I would have been quite shocked if someone had informed me that Kuldeep Yadav would not be participating in any of the first four Test matches. Regretfully, we are obsessed with hitting and trying to score an extra 20–30 runs. The 20–30 run advantage is no longer available in England. You have an extra 60 runs if your No. 7 and No. 8 each score 30 runs. Earlier that 60 runs used to be very useful, because bowlers used to get help from the pitch,” Ashwin said.

If Shardul was merely contributing runs and not being taken into consideration for heavy duty with the Dukes ball, Ashwin further questioned his usefulness.

You can expect 20–30 runs from Shardul Thakur if you only intend to give him these many overs. I really like Shardul Thakur, but why can’t you take Kuldeep Yadav into consideration if this is the main point? It is just blowing my head away. I know it seems against the grain because it is three spinners, but it is not that way, Jadeja is a specialist batter for you now. Washington Sundar is also batting well. When your bowlers can bat so well, why are you not bringing an attacking bowler? Today, Jassi was bowling, and after that it looked like India had no other options to take a wicket.

It plays with a batter’s mind, but I’m not claiming that Kuldeep would have taken five wickets if he had been in action. He’s not chosen by many of these guys, so this was a fantastic chance. If he had been playing today, he would have at least taken one wicket, Ashwin said.