Former India cricketer Ashok Malhotra slams England's rotation policy

Former India cricketer and renowned coach Ashok Malhotra has criticized England's rotation policy.

After winning the first Test in Chennai, England slumped to a hat-trick of defeats to concede the series. Many fingers are now being pointed at the rotation policy that has been adopted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), keeping the mental health and physical fitness of the players in mind.

James Anderson and Dom Bess, two of England's heroes in the first Test, were benched for the second match citing rotation policy. Even Jos Buttler was rested after the first Test and Jonny Bairstow for the first two Tests of the series.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with journalist Indranil Basu for SK Live, Ashok Malhotra went on to call England's rotation policy 'silly' and questioned England's priorities while facing the best team in the world.

"That (rotation policy) is very silly. When you got a very good side, then I understand. But when you got an average side, how can you do that? I can't understand English mind-set. They have always been different. When the world moved on to white-ball cricket, they chose to focus on only Tests. Now when teams are trying to win Tests, they are stuck with the white ball. It defies cricketing logic," said Ashok Malhotra, who played 7 Tests and 20 ODIs for India between 1982 and 1986.

England's win in Sri Lanka didn't mean anything: Ashok Malhotra

Further questioning England's rotation policy, Ashok Malhotra stated that England's win in Sri Lanka didn't mean anything when it came to preparing against India. He argued that the gap in standards of both the Asian sides is significant at the moment.

"Their results (2-0) in Sri Lanka tour didn't mean anything (while preparing for India). Sri Lanka isn't India. They don't have spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin or even Axar Patel. They don't have a Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or someone like Rishabh Pant. India are the No.1 side. The demands were different," added Ashok Malhotra.

England whitewashed Sri Lanka 2-0 in January before arriving on Indian shores. They carried on the momentum by beating India in the first Chennai Test on a flat deck.

However, England struggled on turning surfaces and failed to capitalize on the early lead, losing the series 1-3. They eventually lost out on a place in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) as well.

"ICC World Test Championship Final, here we come" #TeamIndia share their emotions of reaching the ICC WTC Final & speak about the road which led to the summit clash, where they will face NZ 👌👌 - By @RajalArora @Paytm #INDvENG Full feature 🎥 👉 https://t.co/ENdft5YN53 pic.twitter.com/vnih0OT7vQ

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 6, 2021