Former Captain Sunil Gavaskar fumes at the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin in playing 11 for the Afghanistan clash in World Cup 2023
Gavaskar fumes at Shami’s omission for AFG WC clash
India is scheduled to play in the 9th ICC World Cup 2023 match on October 11 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. In the clash, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi decided to bat on winning the toss in Delhi. Shahidi was confident in the pitch, favorable for batting, and planned on setting a high target for India.
India dismissed the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran with 21 and 22 scores respectively. Rahmat Shah was dismissed by Thakur on lbw and Omarzai was dismissed by Pandya for 62 runs.
Indian side made a change in the playing 11 of the squad, where Shardul Thakur was included in the omission of Ashwin.
The decision was unexpected as Delhi’s pitch is not favorable for spinners like Chennai stadium. The inclusion of Thakur over Mohammad Shami created some talks against the decision, including Legend Sunil Gavaskar’s suggestions.
While talking to the media he stated that Shami has shown his skills could change to phase of the game with his remarkable bowling performance.
“I don’t know what he’s (Ashwin) done wrong, but there you are,” Gavaskar said.
“It is a difficult call; as a group, you look to try and give as many players an outing. I would have thought, what Shami did against Afghanistan in 2019, turning the match in India’s way, he would get a go.
It is just a psychological thing, here’s a man who took a hat trick… I know, there will be a few changes in the Afghanistan XI from 2019, but well. It’s a call that has been made. Ashwin is used to being left out of the team, it is only going to make him more determined,” the former captain further added.
“He is a man who’s who’s taken a hat-trick. Play him. I know there will be a few changes in the Afghanistan lineup from 2019, but anyway, it’s a call that has been made. Ashwin is used to this, you know, to be left out of the team. It’s only going to make it that much more determined,” said Gavaskar.
“But again, what India needs to do is to make sure that like they did against Australia, you know, try and restrict Afghanistan to as little as possible,” he concluded.
Afghanistan squad
Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen ul Haq
India Squad
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
