Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned the team’s think tank after 0-4 series loss against England. The hosts registered a convincing 56-run win to whitewash the visitors and grab the number one ranking in T20Is.
Ashwin highlighted that India’s team management played musical chairs with the Indian openers. While Abhishek Sharma played all five matches, Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played two and three games respectively.
Samson was dropped from the final XI after he managed a solitary run in the opening game. Earlier, Samson had returned with scores of 5 and 0 in two T20Is against Ireland.
On the other hand, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was handed his much-awaited debut in the second game against England but the youngster was dismissed after scoring only 14 runs off 10 balls.
In the next two games, Sooryavanshi was dismissed after scoring 13 and 15. However, surprisingly he was dropped in the final game of the series on Saturday. Sanju Samson was brought back into the playing XI in Sooryavanshi’s place but the Kerala batter could score a cameo of 14-ball 27.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “England backed Jos Buttler despite his poor form, and we played musical chairs with the openers. The one who sits on the chair when the song stops goes to open. But they did not do the same. They let Jos Buttler play every game, and he scored a hundred in the last match.
“The one who scored runs for us at the T20 World Cup, we played musical chairs with him, and he scored 27 runs. The one who was supposed to hit a century scored 27 runs.”
Ashwin slammed Gautam Gambhir-led support staff for making consistent changes to the playing XI.
“We cannot give that guarantee to anyone. There is no point in talking in hindsight. I can 100 percent say that players won’t play every game. Anyone can play. That has been the trend, which is not great.”
India and England will next take on each other in a three-match ODI series, starting Tuesday at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
