5 Selection blunders by Indian Team during England series
India-England Test series has been a saga of missed opportunities for the Indian team. Apart from much talked about batting failure, Indian team management also made some tactical errors during the series.
Not playing enough tour games has been one of those errors. According to some experts, getting acclimatized to the conditions is very important, for touring countries like England and practice matches play an important role in doing so.
Selection of the playing eleven has also been a bone of contention throughout the series. Some of the choices made by Indian team management really defied logic and played an important in losing the series which could have been won with a more measured approach towards team selection. Let's take a look at some of the selection blunders:
#1 Dropping Pujara for the first Test
Dropping Pujara for the first was a strange decision. Indian management took Pujara's county form into account and dropped him for the first Test. Also, there was this notion that Pujara's overseas form has left a lot to be desired. Both these arguments have some merit, but, what were the alternatives that Indian team management had in place of Pujara- Dhawan and Rahul, both of whom have struggled outside India. Pujara's record is slightly better than these two batsmen even if we talk about alien conditions plus his classical style Test batting provides stability to the team.
Dropping Pujara would have made more sense in case of suitable replacements and non-availability of those proved costly to the team India as Dhawan and Rahul both failed.