“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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