Ashwin and Jadeja benched for Adelaide Test by Rohit and Gambhir: Report

Leading up to the upcoming Adelaide pink-ball Test against Australia, India are grappling with various selection dilemmas. A major conundrum they are facing is determining which spinner should earn a spot in the playing XI. In the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, India surprised many by opting for the relatively inexperienced Washington Sundar over seasoned veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

This selection call was criticised by several cricket pundits, however, it looks like the team management is going to stick with the same call for the second Test of the five-match series.

As per a report in Times of India, Washington Sundar is all but confirmed to get the nod ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja, who have a combined 855 Test wickets.

"There's a 90% chance that Sundar will play in the second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval," Times of India quoted a source as saying.

In the Perth Test which India eventually won by 295 runs, the Tamil Nadu off-spinner returned with figures of 0-1 and 2-48.

Recently, the left-handed batter scored 42 in the pink-ball practice match against Australia Prime Minister's XI at the Manuka Oval, Canberra. He also returned with figures of 1-38.

Washington Sundar's comeback to Test cricket

Washington Sundar made a return to India's Test playing XI during the series against New Zealand. In the Pune Test, the 25-year-old returned with 11 wickets.

 

However, his selection ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja in the first Test against Australia was slammed by several fans and pundits. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also questioned the logic behind leaving out such greats of the game.

"Really surprised with Ashwin and Jadeja not playing, they have got 900 wickets between them in Test matches. They are not bowlers who can just play in Indian or sub-continent conditions. They are very clever bowlers, they are very experienced bowlers. Even if they might not get you wickets, they will be able to slow the scoring down because of the cleverness of how they bowl," said Gavaskar, while doing commentary on Day 1 of the Perth Test.

“I would have thought that on these Australian wickets, there are big boundaries, so I thought you would have gone with both of them,” he added. 

Washington Sundar has so far played 7 Tests, taking 24 wickets. He has also scored 387 runs, with his best score being 96 not out against England in Ahmedabad. 

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