The Indian team management took a shocking call to drop Sai Sudharsan from the playing XI for the first Test against South Africa. The management retained Washington Sundar in the playing XI and promoted him to bat at number 3. Apart from Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are two spin-bowling all-rounders in the playing XI. Kuldeep Yadav, who is in the final XI, can also bat if needed.
The management’s decision to drop a pure batter for an all-rounder left Aakash Chopra surprised. The former India opener slammed the team management and questioned why he was even selected when he wasn’t going to play?
“If you’re not convinced with Sai Sudharsan’s batting after what he did in Delhi, then why is he still in the squad? Why keep him in the team? It can’t be that just because you need fifteen players, you include him even though you have no belief in him. That’s not how it works. So their thinking I don’t understand it,” he said while doing commentary on Star Sports.
“Sai Sudharsan, yes, he scored runs and still got dropped. It’s true – if you’re not in the playing XI, that doesn’t mean you suddenly become a useless player. India has a chance here to prepare their players. The No. 3 spot cannot become a game of musical chairs.”
Sudharsan made his Test debut against England in the Leeds Test. He seemed to have cemented his place in the playing XI at number 3 following his 87 and 39 in the second Test against West Indies. But the management’s decision to have more all-rounders in the playing XI saw them drop the batter.
Interestingly, the four Indian spinners only managed 3 wickets while the pacers dismissed 7 batters in SA’s first innings. Jasprit Bumrah took a five-fer as India bowled out SA for 159. Mohammed Siraj dismissed two batters. Kuldeep Yadav scalped 2 wickets while Axar Patel dismissed one batter. Ravindra Jadeja went wicketless in 8 overs. Sundar only bowled one over.