India vs Australia Champions Trophy: Ravi Shastri backs four-spinner formula for semi-final in Dubai | Cricket News

With the Rohit Sharma led Indian team scoring a 44-run win over New-Zealand in their last group match in Dubai on Sunday, India will now be facing world champions Australia in the first semi-final at Dubai on Tuesday. With India opting for four spinners in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy, it was Chakravarthy who picked up five wickets against New Zealand on Sunday. Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri believes Indian management should stick with the formula against Australia.
“The square is a little tired at the moment, people have run on the pitch that is going to be used the day after, so the spinners will again come into play. So if you bat first, put anything over 240-250, it’s going to be very competitive in a big game like a semi-final,” said Shastri after the match, talking with official broadcasters.
Chakaravarthy, who did not play in the first two matches including India’s opening match against Pakan, had made his ODI debut against England last month. The 33-year-old picked his first fifer in ODI cricket on Sunday as he took wickets of Will Young, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry playing his part in New Zealand collapse. India had opted to drop pacer Harshit Rana and the Indian spinners bowled 37.3 overs in the match and picked up a total of nine wickets. With world champions Australia playing their first match in Dubai in this Champions Trophy, former Indian selector Kris Srikkanth believes playing four spinners is a ‘brilliant idea’.
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“I don’t understand, why do you need Harshit Rana? What wrong did Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy do? Playing four spinners is a good idea, it’s actually a brilliant idea. The opponents do not know what to do. Australia have a pretty good batting line-up but even they’ll struggle against this Indian spin unit. Varun will spin a web around the Aussies.” Srikkanth said on his Youtube channel Cheeky Cheeka.
Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had earlier criticised India’s move to select five spinners in the final squad. “What I don’t understand is the number of spinners we are taking to Dubai. Yeah I understand that we take three or four spinners for a tour. But five spinners in Dubai? I don’t know. I think we are one spinner too many if not two,” Ashwin had said on his Youtube channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.