Mike Hussey: Ashwin deserves a place ahead of Kuldeep in the XI

What’s the story?

Former Australia cricketer Mike Hussey who is fondly known as Mr Cricket said that off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin deserves a place ahead of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the Test side. He said that Ashwin has over 300 wickets in Test cricket and personally, he would prefer his former Chennai Super Kings team-mate in the XI.

“I don't know what the selectors are thinking. Personally, I feel Ashwin should play ahead of Kuldeep. He has more than 300 Test wickets. Ashwin deserves his place in the starting XI,” said Mike Hussey who is commentating for Star Sports in the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).

In case you didn’t know…

There is a lot of buzz around the possibility of India playing Kuldeep Yadav in the upcoming Test series in England after the 23-year-old chinaman’s success in the ODI and T20I series. Kuldeep picked up 14 wickets in 5 limited-overs games and skipper Virat Kohli in one of the post-match presentations did say that Kuldeep could be in the Test side and given England’s struggles against him, he could play in the XI as well.

The heart of the matter

A lot of experts and others believe that Kuldeep Yadav should play the first Test. But Mike Hussey who has played with and against Ashwin quite a bit and has followed the game closely has gone against the norm and backed Ashwin.

“Ashwin against the left-handers could play a big role. Kuldeep has done brilliantly but I feel India should persist with Ashwin. Kuldeep is young and can learn along the way,” Hussey added.

He also said that India has a great chance of winning the series and stated that this is going to be a ‘great’ series.

What’s next?

The first Test of the five-match series is going to start on August 1st. England have had an unusually dry summer and the pitches might well be on the drier side which might temp both sides to play two spinners. Even though Ashwin had a minor injury scare, both he and Kuldeep are in line to play the first Test at Edgbaston.