Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that making too many changes to the playing XI for the Super 8 clash against Zimbabwe won’t be the solution to India’s woes, following their 76-run loss to South Africa in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
The 39-year-old said that players needed to sort their issues out themselves and too much chopping and changing could create insecurity within the dressing room.
“It is time to find solutions. We think solutions are made by making changes. No. Players will find solutions themselves if there is stability in the team. We have to keep the environment such that players feel stable and think for themselves and bring in solutions. We cannot think of always making changes. They will go into insecurity otherwise,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.
The 106-Test veteran also felt that India needed to reinstate Axar Patel in the playing XI for the game in Chennai on Thursday and also consider the option of picking Kuldeep Yadav for the match, which is now a must-win encounter for the co-hosts.
“At the end of this defeat, I cannot think what they will do. They can think of many things. You have to bring Axar back. Playing in Chennai, they may think of another spinner and Kuldeep. They might think of Sanju Samson, as there are talks about Tilak and Abhishek. But if we can keep things stable, these thoughts will not come. In such a campaign, I am not saying do not make changes for people who are not in form, but if you keep making changes, there will be doubt within the dressing room,” he added.
India will need to win both their remaining matches against Zimbabwe and West Indies in Chennai and Kolkata and hope for South Africa to also win their remaining two matches to stand a chance to make it to the semi-finals next week.
