Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra questioned India’s think tank for not playing an extra spinner in the second T20I against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Saturday. In the first two games, the New Zealand spinners have performed well whereas India has played no specialist spinner in their playing XI.
Axar Patel returned with economical figures of 0-28 in his quota of four overs whereas Naman Dhir conceded only seven runs in a solitary over he bowled in the second game.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Santner returned with impresive figures of 4-21 in his quota of four overs. However, spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy were once again kept on the bench by the Indian team management.
“Why are we not playing more spinners? New Zealand showed us once again. It was a used surface, a big ground, big boundaries. Santner took four wickets. Our spinners bowled five overs today and did well. Why are we not playing an extra spinner then? We can rest one fast bowler and need to think a bit about this. We have both Varun and Kuldeep. This game was a chance to throw in another spinner,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.
On the other hand, the renowned commentator also opened up on Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance. Kumar returned with expensive figures of 1-50 in his four overs.
“I want to talk about Bhuvi’s comeback. He has bowled eight overs and has given almost 100 runs. From what we have seen so far, it looks like finding rhythm in international cricket is not easy or simple. It is a small sample size, so I am not going to call it yet. But is he actually back? If he is not going to be part of your ODI setup and keeps giving 50 runs like this, then you might have to look in another direction. This is one question now,” he said.
The third T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Henry Stadium, Wellington on Tuesday.
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