BCCI under fire for prioritizing bowlers who can bat over wicket-taking abilities

Chopra, a former cricketer-turned-commentator, expressed his doubts regarding the judgement of the selection committee in selecting Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar for the squad. According to Chopra, all three players seemed to offer similar skill sets and abilities, which might not be the ideal scenario for the team's success.

"The one overriding thought or theme was who all can bat because you need a batter at No. 8. So you picked Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. You could have picked a fast bowler instead of that, and if you needed a spinner only, then you could have picked Varun Chakaravarthy. I see two of the three spin-bowling all-rounders, who all bat left-handed, playing," he said on his YouTube channel.

‘All three are defensive options in ODI cricket’

He further called them defensive options in the 50-over format, which clearly shows that the team management is not very confident about the batting group after their recent lacklustre performance in red-ball cricket.

"All three are defensive options in ODI cricket. We consistently saw a slight lack of confidence in batting in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. We needed a batter at No. 8. So we are picking bowlers who can bat, and I feel it's the same theme this time as well, which is not a great thing because you have to show confidence in your batting. You have to pick bowlers who take wickets," Chopra added.

The lack of confidence in the batting line-up forced the selectors to pick only three specialist pacers in the squad, which has been the case for them in the recent past. They picked four all-round options in Pandya, Sundar, Jadeja and Axar to strengthen the batting unit but left a chink in their fast bowling armoury with Siraj failing to make the cut.

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