England and India clashed in the fourth Test of the five-match series at the Oval in London. England captain Joe Root won the toss and chose to bowl first.
However, the cricket fraternity and Indian cricket fans were in for a shock when Virat Kohli revealed India playing XI for the match. Everyone was expecting the inclusion of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing XI, especially after the poor bowling show in Leeds.
Also, Ashwin had picked a 6-fer and seven wickets in total for Surrey in a match against Somerset in July on this same ground. However, much to the surprise of everyone, Kohli’s India playing XI didn’t include Ravichandran Ashwin, and instead, Shardul Thakur came in for Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav replaced Mohammad Shami.
While explaining his reason for leaving Ravi Ashwin out and keeping Ravindra Jadeja in the team, Kohli said that since England has some left-handed players, Jadeja would be a better match-up for them. However, this reasoning was not accepted by many as Ravi Ashwin has dismissed the most left-handers in Test cricket.
News Source : India News
