Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has opened up on India playing XI for the fifth Test match against England at the Kennington Oval, London. The visitors made four changes in their final XI with Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep coming into the team.
Chopra noted that Arshdeep Singh might not have recovered from a finger injury, which he had suffered while training ahead of the fourth Test. Singh was expected to make his Test debut at the Oval but was not picked in the final XI.
“We were saying that Karun Nair should be played, and he has been played. Prasidh Krishna has been given a chance. Akash Deep has returned. There was no place for Arshdeep, and it’s been heard that his cut is not yet healed. So he was perhaps not available for selection,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
The renowned commentator highlighted that Shardul Thakur was rightly excluded from the team and added Kuldeep had to miss out because of a green deck.
“Not playing Shardul Thakur, I think, was the right decision. Playing Karun Nair is also a right decision because if Rishabh Pant isn’t there, you need one more proper batter. You probably weren’t able to play Kuldeep Yadav because it’s a pitch very unlike The Oval,” he elaborated.
Chopra said the pitch won’t be spoken about despite it not being a typical Oval track.
“The pitch at The Oval is always flat, and there is help for the spinners, but they have given a green top. The home team hasn’t played a single spinner. When you don’t have a spinner, and you don’t play one, you can leave grass on the pitch, and no one will talk about it today,” he said.
The former Delhi cricketer questioned the Western and Eastern media if India had prepared a similar pitch to provide assistance to their spinners in home conditions.
“If India play a token fast bowler and all spinners, and prepare a spin-friendly pitch, the Western and Eastern media, from Australia to England to wherever, would have ripped into Indian cricket. They would have said that we have doctored the pitch. When you are leaving grass and playing all fast bowling, isn’t that equivalent to pitch doctoring?” Chopra observed.
India ended the opening day’s play at 204-6.
