Birmingham: With both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav going for aplenty against in the game against England, the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not the Indian team management should look at giving spinner Ravindra Jadeja a go Tuesday for the game against Bangladesh at Edgbaston as that can give India depth in batting.
India’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar said that using Jadeja can definitely be an option. But he is quick to add that Kuldeep and Chahal failing against the English batsmen was more of an one-off situation.
“We’re open to all combinations where the three seamers can play along with Hardik Pandya. We’re also looking at Jadeja coming in, all players are up and figure in the team combinations we’re thinking of. When you don’t have major contributions from the lower order, wherein a Bhuvneshwar Kumar becomes vital. Or anybody who can be handy at No. 8 could be Jadeja. It gives a bit of a freedom to somebody batting at No. 6 or Mo.7, they could start going at the bowling a bit earlier rather than leaving it for the last 3-4 overs,” Bangar said Monday.
“From that point of view, it’s a tactic which we’ve been debating as a team combination. There will be a point in the tournament where we will have to reassess the combinations. (As for Kuldeep and Chahal) you could say it was one of their off days. But they’ve been doing really well for us so we need to continue to back them. In the next games, they have a crucial role to play,” added the assistant coach.
Bangar feels that knowing the ground after Sunday’s game will help the Men in Blue in the game against the Bangla Tigers. “Yes, we’re playing on the same track; we know the wicket and the dimensions well. Yes we also have to assess from the bowling perspective on how to improve there. In the last 6-7 overs we gave plenty of runs, we have to rectify that,” said Bangar.
“We also have to try and get those learnings into the next game. Every game is going to be crucial, we’ll assess the things that went wrong and correct those,” added Bangar.
Questions have also been raised on MS Dhoni’s performance with the bat Sunday, but Bangar believes that it is unnecessary to keep questioning Dhoni.
“Except for one odd innings (against Afghanistan), he has done the role always. Five out of seven games he has done the job for the team. Against England he was striking the ball really well. I’m surprised that this question continues to come up every now and then. He’s doing the job for the team and overall we’re very happy with the intent he’s batting with,” Bangar asserted.
Bangar also said that the team will look to persist with Rishabh Pant at No.4 as a left-hander helps unsettle opposition bowlers.
“The team management has been feeling the absence of a left-hander after Shikhar (Dhawan) was injured. It was a ploy to use right-left combination in the middle overs to upset the opposition bowling plans a bit. Because of that Adil Rashid couldn’t bowl the number of overs he’d have usually bowled,” Bangar pointed out.
IANS