“Ashwin should have played”: Michael Vaughan finds fault in India’s Playing XI for Lord’s Test vs England

Dixit Bhargav | 12/08/2021
"Ashwin should have played": Michael Vaughan finds fault in India's Playing XI for Lord's Test vs England

Michael Vaughan: The former English captain had expected India to take the field with two spin-bowling options at Lord’s.

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin not being considered for the second Test match between England and India at Lord’s has invited mixed responses from experts, former cricketers and fans.

As was the case in the first Test in Nottingham, India have taken the field with four specialist fast bowlers and a spin-bowling all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja. It was pacer Ishant Sharma who was included as injured Shardul Thakur’s replacement today as the visitors have chosen to play with an elongated tail.

Ashwin, who doesn’t need to be backed by numbers, not playing a Test match despite being fully fit is bound to initiate debates. Having said that, India captain Virat Kohli had made it pretty clear that they want to follow the “same template” in the matches to come.

“Ishant [Sharma] replaces Shardul [Thakur], that’s the only change. We announced 12 within the group and [Ravichandran] Ashwin definitely was part of that. But this makes the most sense for us as a team,” Kohli told Sky Sports at the toss today.

Michael Vaughan finds fault in India’s Playing XI for Lord’s Test vs England

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who is quite vocal with respect to his opinions on social media platform Twitter, immediately tweeted to criticize India’s combination for the second match.

Vaughan highlighted how India should’ve picked an all-condition bowler in Ashwin not just for his bowling but for his batting skills as well.

Twitter reactions on R Ashwin not playing England vs India Lord’s Test:

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Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
England India India tour of England Michael vaughan Ravichandran Ashwin

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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