Mohammad Kaif thinks Team India made two interesting decisions in the 1st Test

The much-awaited England vs India Test series got underway today at Edgbaston. There was a lot of speculation with regards to the kind of XI the Indians will field, will they play two seamers and will Shikhar Dhawan open were the two prominent questions. At the toss, Joe Root decided to bat first and Virat Kohli surprisingly was happy to be bowling with overcast conditions.

Kohli said that considering the cloud cover they were intending to bowl, when asked about the team, he answered that contrary to the general perception they are going in with three seamers and just one spinner. They preferred their best bowler Ravichandran Ashwin and considering the weather got a bit cooler and there was hardly any dryness in the pitch.

Rahul in at 3

The surprise came when he revealed the top three, there was Dhawan as well as Rahul the man to miss out was Cheteshwar Pujara. While the left-hander will open the innings with Murali Vijay, the in-form Rahul takes the bigger responsibility at No.3.

“We were thinking of bowling first with the cloud cover this morning. I think it’ll be a good batting wicket but we wanted to get maximum out of the ball on day one. We have three fast bowlers, Hardik is the allrounder, Ashwin the offspinner. Five batsmen and Karthik is the keeper. Rahul is in at No. 3, Pujara sits out,” Kohli said at the toss.

This caught a lot of people off guard and there was a variety of reaction on social media. As far as Ashwin’s inclusion is concerned, the off-spinner was deployed in the attack as early as the 9th over and he made it count with the wicket of Alastair Cook.

Mohammad Kaif thought the move to play Ashwin and Rahul was interesting and in his tweet wrote- “Two moves, which I will call interesting. One, playing both Dhawan and Rahul and dropping Pujara. Second, bringing Ashwin into the attack early. The second one has already payed off # EngvInd”

Two moves, which I will call interesting. One, playing both Dhawan and Rahul and dropping Pujara. Second, bringing Ashwin into the attack early. The second one has already payed off # EngvInd

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) August 1, 2018

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