India captain Rohit Sharma backed the five-spinner strategy and noted that three out of them are effective batters as well. Meanwhile, the Men in Blue faced tremendous backlash for selecting five spinners and dropping Mohammed Siraj from the Champions Trophy squad.
India picked five spinners for the ongoing Champions Trophy. Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel were expected to feature but interestingly, the selectors also named Washington Sundar and Varun Chakravarthy in the mix. Three pacers – Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Sing and Harshit Rana earned their spot in the 15-member squad while Hardik Pandya can serve as the fourth seamer. Mohammed Siraj has been named as a non-travelling reserve.
India’s decision to bench Siraj and pick five spinners invited criticism as many former cricketers noted that it could hurt the Rohit Sharma-led side in the marquee tournament. The captain however isn’t fazed as ahead of their opening clash against Bangladesh, the 37-year-old noted that out of the five spinners, three of them are all-rounders and added that in case they were fast-bowling all-rounders, such discussions wouldn’t have taken place.
“I am not looking at them as five spinners. Those three guys can bat and can bowl also. Other teams have fast bowlers as all-rounders, and it’s quite often said that it’s a good thing that there are six fast bowlers in the team. Speaking about our side, we stick to our strengths and try to make our team based on that,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference.
“Those three guys – Jadeja, Axar, Washington – give us a different to the game, to our combination, to our squad. They add a lot to this team and give us a lot of depth. That is why we wanted to get players who have two skills rather than one skill,” added Rohit.
The conditions in Dubai might help the spinners as the ground hosted several matches of the ILT20 recently. India meanwhile are expected to take a call regarding the playing XI on the morning of the match against Bangladesh. Rain can play a spoilsport and that will play a part in them finalising the squad.
