Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has suggested that India should have picked Arshdeep Singh in the Test squad instead of playing Prasidh Krishna or Shardul Thakur in the ongoing series against South Africa.
India suffered an embarrassing innings defeat to South Africa in the opening Test in Centurion inside three days.
The Indian bowlers had a tough outing in the Centurion Test as their third and fourth-choice pacers – Shardul Thakur (1/101 in 19 overs) and Prasidh Krishna (1/93 in 20 overs) – were all over the place.
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The two failed to get their line and length right on a surface which had assistance for the pacers. South Africa took complete advantage of their errors and managed to post 408 on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the Indian batters looked clueless against the swing bowling of the Proteas pacemen as they were bundled out for just 245 and 131 in their attempts.
Butt said that Arshdeep would have been a better choice than Krishna and Shardul as he has the ability to swing the ball both ways.
“Instead of playing Prasidh Krishna or Shardul Thakur, it would have been better if India picked Arshdeep Singh in the squad. He bowls over 135 kph and also swings the ball both ways. He might have been effective in the Test. Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur gave a lot of easy boundary balls,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.
India captain Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation that Jasprit Bumrah didn’t get much support from the other end but he backed his bowlers to bounce back in the next match.
Meanwhile, Butt feels that Rohit has moved on from the World Cup final loss now as he is an experienced player who has seen ups and downs in his career.
“I don’t think so (if Rohit is still hurting). It’s a different game. He is a seasoned player who is nearing the end of his career and has a lot of achievements. It was a final, and India could not win; that’s it. I am sure he is over the World Cup final loss,” he said.
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