The ex-India star in question here is Harbhajan Singh, who labelled the Men in Blue’s team selection for third Test as ‘unacceptable’
The playing XI that India chose for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Brisbane has come under scrutiny. Earlier, ex-India batter Aakash Chopra criticized the selection due to the inconsistency with spinners. Now, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has also given his remarks on the same topic.
In the first Test, Washington Sundar was given a chance over veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Then, in the second match, Ashwin replaced Sundar before he himself got replaced by Jadeja in the third Test.
When asked about his opinion on constant changes in the team, Harbhajan said that India’s team selection for in particular the 3rd Test, was ‘unacceptable’.
“If I respond to this question, headlines would be made. Don’t think what happened was right. Sundar played the first Test but your prime spinners were (R) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja. You played Sundar but should’ve persisted with him. You dropped him to bring Ashwin in, who didn’t bowl bad by any means. I thought Ashwin or Sundar should’ve been picked for the third Test but Jadeja was picked. It has become a big question for me,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports.
“Maybe they (Team India) don’t trust any spinner. One has over 300 wickets, other over 500 wickets. This team selection isn’t acceptable to me. I wanted to see either Ashwin or Sundar. Now that Jadeja has been picked, I hope he plays next match too as chopping on changing would lower the confidence of players,” Harbhajan added.
It will be interesting to see if The Men in Blue will continue with Jadeja for the fourth Test or bring back either Ashwin or Sundar.
