"The captain will also look at the temperament of an individual and then assess" - WV Raman on the Ashwin-Jadeja debate
Former India cricketer WV Raman has shared his thoughts on the ongoing selection debacle with the Indian team. He reckons that India's main priority should be stacking the batting unit and the selection debate between the two spinners is not as straightforward as it seems.
India suffered a humiliating loss against England in Leeds to bring the series back to an even keel. The loss, and its nature, has brought out several opinions regarding possible team combinations and options from the bench.
One such debate remains the selection of Ravichandran Ashwin, who has yet to feature in the series so far. Raman spoke:
"If you play Jadeja and an Ashwin, what are the individual temperaments? For example, my view of them is that, Virat can tell Jadeja what he expects from him and perhaps even insist, what I expect from you. Whereas, in the case of Ashwin, he is a guy who likes to be aggressive, go for wickets and who has his own mind. It's not that Ashwin is not for the team, he is for the team but he has his own way of doing things. Jadeja's is a different way of doing things,'"WV Raman said during an online media interaction organised by Sony.
"So the captain will also look at the temperament of an individual and then assess. So there are a lot of things that go into deciding who's playing and who's not playing, it's not just the numbers alone," Raman added
Enough of this leading from the front: WV Raman on Kohli's double-act as captain and batsman
Virat Kohli's form has been another pressing area of concern for the Indian team. The lack of runs by Kohli and the other middle order batsmen has put a lot of pressure on the lower order.
While some believe the pressure of captaincy has caught up with the Indian skipper, WV Raman believes he can just push others to do their job instead of taking all the pressure on himself.
Raman said:
"I think what has happened is there's been pressure on Virat himself because we pay a lot of attention to everything that he does, obviously, we know he is one of the best batsmen, and we expect a lot from him, even as much as the same case as Sachin Tendulkar when he was playing, when he walked out to bat even 95 was considered as a failure.
"So the fact of the matter is that now, I would tell Virat, enough of this leading from the front, you just try to nudge the others from behind and get them to do what they can do, I'm sure you will be back at your best in no time, He did show shades of his old game or fluency in the last innings, I'm sure he will in the next two Tests," Raman added.
India will take on England in the fourth Test of the series at the Oval beginning on September 2.