By: Sandipan Bose
Team India needs to quickly find a solution for number 6 slot if they want to win Test matches consistently. For now, Ravichandran Ashwin is a wonderful option, who is also the main strike bowler in Tests.
It would add great value to the team on days he would contribute with the bat. Like he did in the first innings in the Visakhapatnam Test, where he made a fluent 58. However, Ashwin wasn’t a success with the bat in the second innings. He could only make seven.
It was the lower middle-order batting collapse that saw India making only 204 runs in the second innings after taking a 200-run lead in the first innings of the Test.
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A stable batsman at number 6 could have helped Team India to added another 50 runs or so, which in turn could have given an edge to the home team. In the 2nd Test against England in Vizag, India would been under slight pressure if the England middle-order had responded well against the spinners.
Therefore, it’s important for India to find a stable option at that slot. An extra batsman in the playing XI instead of five regulars would obviously stabilise the batting.
But since the team management put a lot of onus on taking 20 wickets and making five bowlers play in the XI, India are losing on finding a stable option. As a batsman, Ashwin isn’t a bad option as such.
But you can’t put pressure on his batting because he is a bowler first. If he is able to put some runs on the board, the team should take it as a bonus and nothing else.
If it is not coming consistently, India would have to look for an option, which isn’t a stop-gap.
