Harbhajan Singh, the former Indian spinner, has voiced his concern, suggesting that the BCCI and the Indian team management might be making a notable error by including both Ravi Ashwin and Washington Sundar, who are both all-rounders specializing in off-spin, in the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia.
Harbhajan Singh, who has consistently emphasized the importance of having an off-spinner in the squad, has asserted that fielding two off-spinners for the Indian team in the series against Australia was redundant. He contended that with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav already holding their places in the lineup, there was no justifiable rationale for including two off-spinners in the ODI series against Australia.
“First Washington Sundar, who wasn’t in the original Asia Cup squad, was called there. After that, a second player has been added for this series and that is R Ashwin. So somewhere or the other Team India is searching for off-spinners,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
“They have probably realized their mistake that they haven’t picked an off-spinner in the team and that our bowlers can get into trouble if a lot of left-handers come in front of them. Why unnecessarily go through all this? It is beyond my understanding or they are going to make another mistake to rectify their earlier mistake,” he further added.
“You will never pick three spinners in the team. You will choose two at the most. Ravindra Jadeja is definitely going to play, no matter how many left-handers are there in front of you, and the other spinner will be Kuldeep Yadav. No one can take his place as of now,” Harbhajan concluded.
India and Australia are gearing up for an exciting three-match ODI series, set to kick off on September 22 in Mohali, followed by matches on September 24 in Indore and September 27 in Rajkot. This series holds special significance as it serves as the final bilateral engagement for both teams before the highly anticipated ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 commences on October 5th.
India squad for the first two ODIs against Australia:
KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja (vc), Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Tilak Varma, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar.
India squad for the third ODI against Australia:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Hardik Pandya (vc), Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel (subject to fitness), Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar.
Australia squad for the ODI series against India:
Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matt Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
