Senior India cricketer Dinesh Karthik feels that bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur might very well replace fellow all-rounder Axar Patel in the playing XI, come the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June.
While Shardul has not played a Test for India since the rescheduled fifth Test against England in Birmingham last July, Axar Patel had a productive series against Australia recently, scoring 264 runs across four matches at an average of 88, with three fifties to his name. Axar eventually finished the series as the third highest-run getter, behind Usman Khawaja (333 runs) and Virat Kohli (297).
“If Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are fit, Axar Patel will have to miss out. I think Shardul Thakur will take his place. If I have to be very honest, India made a mistake last time by playing both spinners, and they didn’t bowl that much. It’s a one-off game and you can’t look at it in the bigger scheme of things,” Dinesh Karthik was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Karthik also added that India might have to forego one of Ashwin or Jadeja, if the pitch is more suited to the pacers.
“You have to go into the game saying what is my best XI to win that game? If that means leaving one of Jadeja and Ashwin out, so be it,” the 37-year-old added.
Both Ashwin and Jadeja were part of India’s playing XI in the WTC 2021 final against New Zealand in Southampton, but were unable to make a major impact.
“It’s very hard for me to say how long they will keep going, but you do get the feeling that Ashwin is at the backend. Does he have another World Test Championship cycle in him? That is a question that he needs to answer. Again being the highest wicket-taker, I’m sure he will fancy himself,” the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer added.
While a nine-wicket win in Indore sealed Australia’s progression to the summit clash, India had to wait till the final ball of the first New Zealand-Sri Lanka Test in Christchurch to book their spot. The WTC final will be played at The Oval in London from 7 June.
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