Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin questioned India’s usage of Nitish Kumar Reddy after Shubman Gill’s team won the second Test match against the West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday by seven wickets.

Reddy didn’t bowl a single over in the second Test when Indian bowlers bowled a total of 200 overs. The right-hander was promoted to number five in the first innings, and he was dismissed after scoring 43 runs. Reddy had bowled a total of four overs in the first innings of the opening Test at Ahmedabad but didn’t bowl in the second essay.

Ashwin reckons India could have played Axar Patel ahead of Reddy if they had to adopt such tactics in Delhi. 

“If this is Nitish Reddy’s role, I feel you can play a specialist batter or a bowler. You could play Axar Patel. What less has he done? He has been a match-winner. When does Nitish Reddy come into play? I am not saying you play an extra bowler, play a specialist batter only then. Axar has done much better than Nitish in this role,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.

The former all-rounder said Patel has a strong defense while playing against the spinners and feels a better allocation of roles could have been done in Delhi.

“Axar Patel has the best defense against spin, so if you’re not using him, especially when choosing between Siraj, Bumrah and a second seamer, then Nitish can play for batting depth, otherwise I don’t see a point. Nitish is a fine batter but there could a bit more role definition.”

Patel has impressive numbers in Test cricket, especially while playing in Indian conditions, and thus it was a surprise that Reddy was preferred ahead of him in both Test matches against the West Indies. Indian captain Shubman Gill revealed they want to give more chances to certain players so that they can perform in overseas conditions.

India will next take on Australia in a three-match ODI series, starting Sunday.