"It's a reasonably well-balanced squad" - Gautam Gambhir on Team India's Test squad for the South Africa tour
Gautam Gambhir believes the selectors have picked a "reasonably well-balanced" Team India squad for the Test series against South Africa.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side will play a three-match Test series against the Proteas, with their first encounter starting on December 26. The selectors have picked an 18-member squad for the tour, with Rohit Sharma replacing Ajinkya Rahane as Kohli's deputy.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt),Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj. https://t.co/6xSEwn9Rxb
During an interaction on the Star Sports show Follow the Blues, Gautam Gambhir expressed the following views about Team India's squad:
"It's a decent squad. It's a reasonably well-balanced squad. Obviously, you don't have a left-arm spinner. You have got two off-spinners plus six seamers. Obviously the conditions will help the seamers plus you have got Ravichandran Ashwin, who is your No.1 spinner."
The selectors did not pick a left-arm spinner for the tour, with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel ruled out due to injuries. Apart from Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav is the only other spinner in the squad.
"That's the best thing" - Sanjay Bangar on the selectors choosing an 18-member Team India squad
Sanjay Bangar looked pleased that Team India did not opt to take a jumbo squad for the South African tour. He reasoned:
"India's team has been selected for South Africa and an 18-member squad has been selected, that's the best thing because more the number of players, the work becomes more and the team management can face some difficulties in controlling the energy and focus of the team. So taking 18 players instead of 22 is the most positive thing."
The former Team India batting coach is also satisfied with the squad's composition. Bangar elaborated:
"Other than that, I think the combination is also right. A lot of emphasis has been placed on having five seam bowlers, one seam-bowling all-rounder, two off-spinners and plenty of options in the middle-order."
Bangar was particularly delighted with the plethora of seam-bowling options in the Indian squad. He observed:
"So I believe that this is a very good team, wherein there are enough options from the bowling point of view for the fast and the bouncy pitches of South Africa."
MSK Prasad said, "Mohammad Siraj is the third in the Test pace bowling order after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami and he is giving a run for the money for the 1st and 2nd slot". (To TOI).
There are five frontline pacers - Japrit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav - in the 18-member squad. In addition, they also have Shardul Thakur as a seam-bowling all-rounder.