Is It Time To Listen To Mukul Kesavan On Ravi Ashwin's Inclusion In The Team? | Opinion | IND Vs ENG

IND Vs ENG: The third Test match was a humiliation after a much talked about Lord's Test. Does India need to seriously rethink its selection policy? A cricket historian has a few suggestions for VK.

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Sports journalists and writers are often asked to stay connected with the lives of sports stars to understand the athletes that much better. Historian and cricket writer, Mukul Kesavan is averse to this idea. An outsider of sorts, Kesavan believes that distance brings perspective. 

This outsider, an author of books on cricket - among other things - has a suggestion for the bold and passionate Indian captain, Virat Kohli. That suggestion is very simple: to play Ravichandran Ashwin in the team. 

India lose eight wickets on the morning of day four to set up an England victory by an innings and 76 runs!#WTC23 | #ENGvIND | https://t.co/qmnhRc14r1 pic.twitter.com/8sEWj8z1ZW

— ICC (@ICC) August 28, 2021

After India's World Test Championship (WTC) Final loss, Virat Kohli has not played with less than four pacers. India had played three seamers and two spinners in the WTC Final whereas NZ played with an all-pace attack. Since then, in the words of Kesavan, Kohli is struck with something called a 'Fast Bowler Fantasy'.

But why won't Kohli enjoy playing with the liberty of four pacers? That has been the way the NZ played in the WTC Final, that has been the way the West Indies of the 70s and the Australia of the 90s played; but having said that, the Indian team, over the years has not been a team like West Indies or Pakistan or Australia that is dominated by fast-bowling, but rather, India had some excellent spinners doing the job, even in pace-friendly conditions of England and Australia. Kesavan says that Kohli's "fantasy" of playing four pacers stems from a very oriental understanding of the "Indian elite". He says, "It's an old problem with Indian elites: they derive their sense of what is appropriate not from their own histories and experience but by imitating how it's done Elsewhere." 

Why Include Ravi Ashwin? - 'Simple, He Is The Best Spinner In The World Currently'

Kohli has been playing with four pacers, over and over again. Kesavan, even after the Lord's victory had suggested to include Ravichandran Ashwin in the side, either by dropping Ravi Jadeja or by dropping a pacer. The change was eminent after the Lord's Test as that match was won more so due to "magical thinking than rationality". As per Kesavan, the "match was England's to lose on the fifth day and Root lost it". 

Can we give @ashwinravi99 a game as captain? Maybe the only way he will get a game anytime soon.#LegendOnTheBench

— Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) August 25, 2021

In Ashwin's defence, we can say that Ashwin picked up four wickets in the WTC Final and also snatched a 5-fer in a County Championship match, just before the start of the England series. Ashwin has 38 Test wickets in 2021, which is the highest in this calendar year, so far. The pitch at Leeds was dry and Ashwin could have got great purchase off the surface due to his variations. Plus, not only he is a good bowler, but his all-round abilities are also worthwhile. Kohli's four pacer plan has left only one place for a spinner in the Indian team, and that place is occupied by Ravindra Jadeja. 

Ravindra Jadeja's record as a bowler has been dismal as compared to that of Ashwin's. Jadeja has 29 wickets in the last 13 Test matches in the last two years while Ashwin in the same time has 71 wickets in 14 Tests. Moreover, Ashwin started his career as a batsman and thus, his batting abilities are very text-book. A certain ability that is required to bat at number 7 or 8, these days.

Why Drop Him When There Are Five Left-Handers?

England played the Leeds Test with five left-handed batsmen. This should have been a reason enough for picking Ravi Ashwin as his ability to move the ball away from the lefties has gained him many brownie points over the years. Kesavan takes a Marquezesque look at the situation and writes, "This is the most lethal bowler to left-handers in the history of the game. And Kohli knew these lefties would be selected; this was a chronicle of a death foretold where nobody died because Ashwin, off-spinner extraordinary and southpaw killer was summarily dropped," in NDTV. 

Will Kohli Listen To Kesavan's Suggestions? If Yes, How Can Ashwin Be Accommodated?

There are only two ways that Ravichandran Ashwin can make his way in the playing XI:

Number 1: Drop Jadeja and play Ashwin in his place. Or,

Number 2: Drop Ishant Sharma and play with three pacers and two spinners. 

Having said that, Virat Kohli is a captain for his team and for his players. His character on the field and the passion to win matches is beyond ordinary. Indian team, under Virat Kohli, has understood the importance of channelising aggression in the right direction. Without this attitude, India would not have had Test success in the recent past. Thus, I will conclude with a disagreement with Kesavan. Specifically where he suggests a fundamental leadership change by writing that Kohli "should nominate a regent, like Rahane, to lead the team on the field."

Even though it is a fact that Rahane won India a difficult series down under in Australia, it wouldn't have been possible without the newfound confidence in the team, which was infused by King Kohli!