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Former India opening batter says ‘even I would've taken wickets’ on Eden Gardens turner: ‘My problem is not with Sundar’
Kris Srikkanth was baffled by India's ploy of opting for 4 spinners in the Kolkata Test.
Almost 24 hours removed from India’s catastrophic defeat to South Africa in Kolkata, and the reactions continue to flood in. Former India captain and opening batter, Kris Srikkanth, said that he would have been a handful too on the Eden Gardens turner. Srikkanth's comments come in the wake of India's inability to chase down 124 in the final innings, an effort which saw them get bowled out for 93. The Indian players fell into their own trap, as the unpreparedness to bat on a turning wicket led to their downfall. Despite the defeat, India coach Gautam Gambhir insisted that it was indeed the wicket the team wanted to play on, a statement that irked Srikkanth.
A former BCCI chairman of selectors himself, Srikkanth couldn't find the head or tail of the idea behind favouring such a pitch. If the New Zealand whitewash taught the Indian team anything, it was that their batters are undercooked when it comes to playing quality spin. Steve O’Keefe, Ajaz Patel, Matthew Kuhnemann, and now Simon Harmer have all dismantled the Indian batting.
“The wicket was a bad wicket. Gambhir said after the match that there were no demons in the wicket but come on, it was a horrible wicket. It was not a Test match wicket. If the game ends in 2.5 days, there's clearly something wrong with the wicket,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“On these turning tracks, India have been on the backfoot. Look at the scores, 159, 189, 153, 93. Obviously, there's something wrong with the wicket. First day Bumrah bowled an absolute snorter to Markram that nearly went above his head. It's up and down for the quicks, it's turning square for the spinners. On this surface, even I would have taken wickets if I had bowled. Bowling stump-to-stump would have done the trick.”
'Four spinners and one of them doesn't even bowl'
The debacle unfolded after India opted to field four spinners: Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar. In the first innings, however, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj shared 7 wickets, while Kuldeep and Axar picked two and three each. Jadeja grabbed 4 in the second innings but was overshadowed by Simon Harmer's match-haul of seven wickets.
“They played 4 spinners and one spinner (Sundar) didn't even bowl. In the second innings he didn't bowl a single ball. I don't understand the logic behind selecting 4 spinners. My problem is not with selecting Washington and playing him at No.3, but not giving him any bowling whatsoever,” Srikkanth pointed out.
