India’s back-to-back losses in the Super 4 round of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 have certainly rung alarm bells. After the 5-wicket defeat against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma & Co desperately needed to win the encounter against Sri Lanka to be in the race to the finals. But the island nation outsmarted the defending champions by 6 wickets, making India’s chances hang by a fine thread.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri and Pakistan’s legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram were ‘baffled’ by India’s selection. On Tuesday, Ravichandran Ashwin replaced Ravi Bishnoi while Dinesh Karthik was benched again. The unavailability of Avesh Khan meant India had only two fast bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh – to choose from.
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While Ashwin and Chahal were the only wicket-takers, the pacers disappointed again. Hardik Pandya had another bad day at the office while Bhuvneswar too couldn’t control the run flow.
During a discussion on Star Sports Network, Shastri said he was baffled not to see Mohammad Shami in the squad.
“When you need to win, you got to prepare better. I think the selection could have been better, especially for the fast bowlers. You know the conditions here. There’s not much in it for the spinner. I was quite surprised that you came here with just four fast bowlers (including Hardik). You needed that extra one… someone like Mohammed Shami sitting at home and cooling his heels baffles me. After the IPL he had, for him not to be able to make the cut is… Obviously, I’m seeing something different,” Shastri said.
Meanwhile, Akram asked Shastri if a coach has his say in the team selection. The latter said, “He does. He’s not part of the selection. He can contribute by saying ‘this is the combination we want’ then it’s up to the captain in the meeting to take that forward.”
“When I say planning… There should have been one extra fast bowler. One spinner less in the 15-16. You don’t wanna be caught situation where one guy has a fever and then you have no one else to play. You have to play another spinner which can be embarrassing in the end,” he added.
Earlier this year, Shami had a terrific season in the IPL playing for the Gujarat Titans. He was the sixth-highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 20 scalps in 16 games. Despite his commendable performance, he failed to make it to the Asia Cup squad.
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