Australia vs India, 2nd ODI: Why Virat Kohli erred in not selecting Vijay Shankar
For the second ODI against Australia, Virat Kohli made just one change to the side that had lost in the first ODI at Sydney. He brought in Mohammed Siraj in place of Khaleel Ahmed.
The balance of the Indian side suffered in the absence of Hardik Pandya in the first ODI. The absence of a pace-bowling all-rounder had forced Kohli to make several changes in the side as there was no replacement available.
He had to bring in an extra seamer as he would have otherwise been left with only two seamers, which is not ideal for Australian pitches. But having three seamers meant he could not afford to bring in the two best spinners in the form of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, as that would weaken India’s batting a lot. So, he had to drop one of his two premier spinners and bring in the third best spinner in the side who happens to be the best batsman of the lot.
But now that Vijay Shankar has been flown in as a replacement for Pandya, Kohli had the opportunity to bring him into the side straightaway. This would have allowed him to play his four best front-line bowlers including the two wrist-spinners and not depend on the erratic third seamer in the form of Khaleel in the last match, or Siraj in the second ODI.
He could have also brought in Jadhav to have both pace and spin options to bowl the fifth bowler’s quota of ten overs.
This is not to say that either Khaleel or Siraj should not be given a chance. It is important for India to develop a strong bench strength in pace bowling who could replace one of the three first choice seamers, in case of injury or unavailability during the world cup. In fact, depending on the conditions, one of these two could also be India’s third seamer.
However, it is much more important to invest in a pace-bowling all-rounder. India have done very well in finding replacements for almost every position, except that of the pace-bowling all-rounder. The current fiasco arising out of Hardik Pandya's incident proves how risky it is to put all your eggs in one basket.
Luckily, there is still some time left before the world cup. There are a lot of ODI matches to be played still. As we are still in the dark about the future of Pandya, India must use all these matches to find and even groom a pace-bowling all-rounder.
Whether it is Vijay Shankar or anyone else, India must not only select them in the squad, but also give them a chance in the playing eleven. Kohli would have certainly selected Pandya in the playing eleven; similarly, he needs to put enough trust in the replacement all-rounder, not just for immediate gains, but with an eye on the world cup.