The election of 5 spinners by Team India in the Champions Trophy squad has surprised both fans and experts. With India scheduled to play all their matches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the general consensus is that India have included more than one spinner in the squad.
India announced their squad for the Champions Trophy late night on February 11. The BCCI announced the squad, which did not include Jasprit Bumrah. The star pacer was ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury he suffered in the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India named Harshit Rana in the squad in place of Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was sent to the non-travelling reserve after being named in the 15-member preliminary squad in January.
The board named a full squad of spinners including Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy. Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel felt India had overdone it with their love for spinners and should have included an additional pacer in the squad.
“India have more than one spinner in their team. India needed one more pacer in that team,” said Parthiv Patel on Star Sports during the third ODI between India and England. The third ODI have been won by Team India by 142 runs and they have also won the series by 3-0.
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India Squad for ICC Champions Trophy
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy.
Travelling Reserves for ICC Champions Trophy includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Shivam Dube. All three players will travel to Dubai if required. A former selector spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity and said it is confusing why India picked only 3 full-time fast bowlers in the squad, who will play in Dubai, which offers good carry.
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium has hosted 58 ODIs since 2009, and fast bowlers have taken 466 wickets here at an average of 28.6 and with an economy of 4.8. So far, spinners have taken a total of 334 wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and their average goes up to 30, but their economy is slightly better at 4.2.
In the recently concluded ILT20 tournament, the top 10 wicket-takers at the Dubai International Stadium included 8 pacers and only two spinners. However, the top wicket-takers in that list was a spinner and his name is Wanindu Hasaranga.
“The Dubai surface carries a bit more than Sharjah and the pacers here have had some good success. That is why Pakistan have picked more pacers in their squad, though they are to play only a few matches here,” a former national selector told the news agency.
“If you use the new ball well, you can get good buys there. I am not faulting Varun’s selection. He is in good form, but I would have liked to see another experienced pacer in that squad, someone like Siraj,” he added. India are expected to fly out of India on February 14 and will camp in Dubai ahead of their first match against Bangladesh on February 20.
If the Dubai pitch is favourable to pacers, India might struggle to contain opposition batsmen in the upcoming Champions Trophy due to their spin-heavy attack, as data suggests. With Bumrah ruled out of the competition, it will be interesting to see how the Rohit Sharma-led side will cope with the pressure if the bowling lineup is under pressure.