Ravi Shastri Accepts Mistake Of Selecting Kuldeep Yadav In Playing XI At Lord’s

A bold statement from Shastri considering the criticism going around the selection

By: Arun Rawal |
August 16, 2018 6:31 pm

India’s head coach Ravi Shastri backed Indian batsmen to do well at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and make a comeback in the five-match Test series. Shastri feels that there is not one ‘negative bone’ in the team despite what happened in the second Test. On being asked if it was an error to have two spinners play on a pitch which favoured the spinners, he admitted the mistake. He felt that playing an extra seamer would have helped.

Here’s what the 56-year-old said in the pre-match press conference,

In hindsight it was an error. We should have gone with an extra seamer seeing the conditions, that might have helped. Then again you didn’t know how how much it would rain? Whether the match will go into the final day and just in case spinner is needed and the ball starts to turn, we would have needed him (Kuldeep Yadav). But in hindsight the way things panned out, the amount it rained, the amount of time we lost. A seamer could have been a better option.

India were outclassed in the second Test by the hosts. The conditions at Lord’s cricket ground helped English seamers to swing the ball more than usual and get the better of Indian batsmen.

Indian spinners were ineffective in the seamer-friendly conditions. Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav did not get much turn and bounce from the pitch. The spin duo could not even scalp a single wicket as English middle order piled on runs in the second innings.

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Even England team did not bother to use the only spinner in their team, Adil Rashid. The four seamers led by veteran James Anderson were enough to bowl out twice after putting up just 237 runs on the scoreboard.

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Shastri also gave an update on skipper Virat Kohli’s injury. He told media that Kohli is getting better by the day. On the other hand, he kept the lids on whether Rishabh Pant would get to make his Test debut or not.

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