R Ashwin slammed the Indian team management for playing ‘musical chairs’ with openers Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Suryavanshi in their 0-4 T20I series defeat to England. The Men in Blue started with Samson for the opening encounter. The wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed for one off seven balls in the rain-abandoned game.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi made his T20I debut by replacing Samson in the second T20. The 15-year-old scored 14, 13, and 15 before making way for Samson in the final encounter.
Ashwin pointed out that while India left out Sanju after the first game, England persisted with out-of-form Jos Buttler throughout the series. The English wicketkeeper repaid the faith by smashing his T20I career-best 131 off 64 balls in the fifth fixture.
The former Team India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spinner said on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat:
“England backed Jos Buttler despite his poor form, and we played musical chairs with the openers. The one who sits on the chair when the song stops goes to open. But they did not do the same. They let Jos Buttler play every game, and he scored a hundred in the last match.
“The one who scored runs for us at the T20 World Cup, we played musical chairs with him, and he scored 27 runs. The one who was supposed to hit a century scored 27 runs.”
Notably, England completely dominated the reigning T20 World Champions and claimed their maiden bilateral T20I series win against India.
“That has been the trend, which is not great” – R Ashwin opens up on Indian management’s impatient approach
During the same video, R Ashwin was asked whether Vaibhav Suryavanshi could play all three matches in the upcoming three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. It is worth noting that Sanju Samson has been rested for the tour, with Prabhsimran Singh getting his maiden call-up.
The spin legend bluntly remarked that he didn’t expect Suryavanshi to play all games of the series. Expressing his displeasure over the team management’s constant chopping and changing, he added:
“We cannot give that guarantee to anyone. There is no point in talking in hindsight. I can 100 percent say that players won’t play every game. Anyone can play. That has been the trend, which is not great.”
The three-match series is set to commence on July 23. All the games will be played at Harare Sports Club in Harare.
Edited by Aditya Suketu Desai