Nick Compton alleges Kohli for benching Ashwin over ‘obvious personal issues’
Former England cricketer Nick Compton on Thursday was bemused after Ravi Ashwin didn’t feature in India’s Playing XI for the 4th Test at The Oval. India have opted for one spinner in Ravindra Jadeja since the start of the series. Despite being India’s leading wicket-taker in the current bunch of bowlers, Ashwin has had to sit out.
The fact that Ashwin hasn’t played a single Test on the tour has raised a lot of eyebrows. Compton didn’t mince any words in saying that Virat Kohli has ‘personal issues’ with Ashwin due to which the latter hasn’t made the cut.
Compton hits out at Kohli
Please can someone explain how Kohli obvious personal issues with Ashwin are allowed to cloud an obvious selection issue? #india
— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) September 2, 2021
Ashwin finished as the leading wicket-taker in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship. In the final against New Zealand, he surpassed Australia’s Pat Cummins to the tally. Back in February, Ashwin also scored a century against England in Chennai.
India lost the third Test by an innings and 76 runs at Leeds after their 151-run victory at Lord’s. Subsequently, they allowed the Brits to draw the equaliser in the five-match series. It was expected that India would make a few changes in their squad, and one of them would be giving Ashwin an opportunity to show his mettle.
A strange move from Kohli
India roped in Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav for Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma. However, the visiting team has persisted with Jadeja as the spin-bowling option. In the second and third Test, Jadeja got a couple of useful scores, though he couldn’t get a lot of wickets in those games.
In the fourth Test at the Kennington Oval in London, Jadeja was sent to bat at number five ahead of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant. The tactic furrowed a lot of eyebrows and it didn’t work out as he fell prey to Ollie Robinson after scoring only 10 runs.
