Selection Foibles Are Not Team India’s Monopoly

The Australians take the cake for selection blunders. They not only make them look foolish but also endangers their lead in the Ashes series, which they could well lose 3-2. They had not gone into a Test match for 10 years without a spinner as Nathan Lyon played 100 Tests, but his breakdown seems to have confused them so much that they went in with four seamers into a dry Old Trafford pitch. A run riot of 384 off just 72 overs is the result even if they came on the back of an extraordinarily attacking innings by Zak Crawley. Sent on a leather hunt from which there may be no recovery because the Aussies wasted the gift of batting first as Team England boldly inserted them at a venue where no team has won after opting to bowl, the Ashes may well be going out of Australia. So, it is not only Team India that made blunders in England where the conditions this summer have been confusing, to say the least. Cloud cover and a greenish tinge to the pitch saw Rohit Sharma insert Australia in the WTC final after omitting India’s best spinner Ravi Ashwin. Todd Murphy may be a poor imitation, but he deserves to play to give the attack some balance from a monotony of pace.