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‘Pick bowlers who take wickets’: BCCI’s ‘bowlers who can bat’ mindset lambasted after Champions Trophy squad selection

Jan 19, 2025 08:52 PM IST

Chopra suggested that the selector's decision to pick Jadeja, Axar and Sundar might not be the best one as all three offer similar things on the table.

Team India's decision to pick three spin all-rounders in the Champions Trophy squad was lambasted by former cricketer Aakash Chopra, who feels the Men in Blue have decided to go with the defensive options. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and skipper Rohit Sharma named India's squad in the press conference on Saturday, where a couple of big players failed to make the cut, including Mohammed Siraj and Sanju Samson. However, the selection committee picked four spin bowling options, out of which three were all-rounders.

BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar addressed a press conference on the ODI team for the England series and the Champions Trophy at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.(ANI)
BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar addressed a press conference on the ODI team for the England series and the Champions Trophy at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.(ANI)

Chopra, cricketer-turned-commentator, suggested that the selection committee's decision to pick Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar might not be the best one as all three offer similar things on the table.

"The one overriding thought or theme was who all can bat because you need a batter at No. 8. So you picked Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. You could have picked a fast bowler instead of that, and if you needed a spinner only, then you could have picked Varun Chakaravarthy. I see two of the three spin-bowling all-rounders, who all bat left-handed, playing," he said on his YouTube channel.

‘All three are defensive options in ODI cricket’

He further called them defensive options in the 50-over format, which clearly shows that the team management is not very confident about the batting group after their recent lacklustre performance in red-ball cricket.

"All three are defensive options in ODI cricket. We consistently saw a slight lack of confidence in batting in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. We needed a batter at No. 8. So we are picking bowlers who can bat, and I feel it's the same theme this time as well, which is not a great thing because you have to show confidence in your batting. You have to pick bowlers who take wickets," Chopra added.

The lack of confidence in the batting line-up forced the selectors to pick only three specialist pacers in the squad, which has been the case for them in the recent past. They picked four all-round options in Pandya, Sundar, Jadeja and Axar to strengthen the batting unit but left a chink in their fast bowling armoury with Siraj failing to make the cut.

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