India will take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test match in Mullanpur starting from Saturday. The squad includes four spinners: Washington Sundar, Harsh Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav and Manav Suthar. In the recent series, India preferred spin-bowling all-rounders over specialist spinners in home conditions. Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan said India will look to continue playing with a similar strategy, which could mean wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav misses out.
“Absolutely copy-paste, except on one point, because the Indian team likes to bat till No. 8. That’s how they play. So maybe in place of Kuldeep Yadav, at No. 6, No. 7, and No. 8 – Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Washington Sundar,” Pathan said on the Follow the Blues show.
“Harsh Dubey coming at No. 9 and then Gurnoor Brar and one of the fast bowlers, either Siraj or Prasidh Krishna, whichever way they want to go,” Pathan observed.
“That focus will be there. When you play against Sri Lanka and other big teams, your experienced players will come. However, if Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy bat at those numbers, you will get a lot of flexibility. Along with that, they will also get that much experience,” he responded.
Pathan also spoke about Nitish scoring a century in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. “Nitish Kumar Reddy has scored a hundred in Australia. That’s not a small feat. Not many people have gone as a youngster and scored a hundred in Australia. So he has the ability. At the same time, Dhruv Jurel has the ability as well. If he can score runs against Afghanistan, that will give a lot of confidence to the team management,” Pathan observed.
India squad for Test: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (VC), Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Harpreet Brar, Dhruv Jurel
