Cheteshwar Pujara makes his way into the playing XI in place of Shikhar Dhawan in the second test at Lord’s.
Former Indian batting maestro, Sunil Gavaskar, has criticized the Indian team management for dropping opener Shikhar Dhawan for the ongoing second Test against England at Lord’s.
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A change to the Indian batting line-up was very much on the cards after the horrible showing in the 1st Test at Edgbaston, where the hosts won by 31 runs. India bowled decently with the ball, giving the batters a chance to start on a winning note. However, India made a mess of the 194-run target, as the batsmen failed to deliver. Apart from Kohli’s 149 and 51, none of the other batters could perform well against the English bowlers.
Thus, a change in the playing XI was predictable, but the question was who would be dropped. Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul all could not deliver. However, the Indian team management decided to drop Shikhar Dhawan, who scored more than the other three mentioned players. Dhawan managed 26 and 13 at Edgbaston, as the team management’s decision seems to be inspired by the southpaw’s poor form away from home.
However, former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar, is not happy with the management’s decision to drop Dhawan. The 69-year-old revealed that Dhawan is always portrayed as the scapegoat by the management, and claimed that the decision to drop him was not correct.
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“I don’t agree with this decision (to drop Shikhar Dhawan). Shikhar Dhawan is always being made the scapegoat. In the last match, he scored more runs than Murali Vijay. It is not right to drop him after every match. If you have to drop him after every match, why do you take him on tour?” Gavaskar spoke on Sony Ten 3.
Former Indian fast bowler, Ashish Nehra, also agreed with Gavaskar, revealing that the Dehli batsman should be given a prolonged run in the Test team. Nehra claimed that the idea of dropping players after every match will become a bad trend for the Indian team and put all the players under pressure.
On the other hand, India also chose to include wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav ahead of pacer Umesh Yadav, with skipper Virat Kohli speaking at the toss:
“We have brought back Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul moves up the order in place of Shikhar Dhawan. Kuldeep Yadav comes in the side for Umesh Yadav purely because the surface is dry. We need an attacking wrist spinner. We have a good balance looking at two spinners, two fast bowlers and a quality all-rounder.”
