Selectors might try wrist spinners in Tests in the future: Irfan Pathan

The Indian team beat South Africa 5-1 in a historic ODI series to also claim the number 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings. Among the several contributors to this success, the two who stood out were Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The wrist-spin twin has been India’s preferred spinners in white ball cricket since the Sri Lanka series in 2016 scalped 30 wickets among themselves and from the first game till the last their variations remained a mystery unsolved for the South Africans.

Along with them, pacer Jasprit Bumrah was the unsung hero of the team’s victory. While the big names from the Proteas line-up Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel failed to create any impact, it was Bumrah who got India early success almost in every game. He didn’t let the openers settle in for something big and then came back with the old ball to finish things off in the death.

The 24-year-old also played the three-match Test series preceding the ODIs and will once again be a vital cog in the T20Is. He has an awkward action, not so smooth movement and that makes him very prone to injuries in the long run. That is where the question of balancing his workload becomes all the more important. If the Indian team wants him to be at his best in the World Cup 2019, they will preserve him well and keep him away from the usual Test matches and use him on overseas tours if the need be.

One Indian pacer whose seen it all, been a part of the World T20 winning team, played all the three formats, picked up injuries that hampered his career, Irfan Pathan feels that apart from the odd matches on tours like South Africa and England, Bumrah will not be playing a lot of red ball cricket.

“Maybe because it was the South Africa series and then they might want to keep him in the Test side for the England tour as well, I don’t think the team management would otherwise want to persist with him in Test cricket for long. The team management will already be thinking about the workload balance of these players,” Pathan said.

Coming back to the two wrist spinners – given their immense success in the shorter formats the team has almost closed the door on Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for limited-overs cricket. While the duo is their lead pair in Tests, there will be a time when they will want to pick the wrist spinners for the longer form as well to see what kind of an impact they are able to create there.

“Ashwin (Ravichandran Ashwin) and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) are doing really well, they are top two bowlers in Test cricket. There will be occasions when we’re playing on surfaces where there is not a lot of turn or any help on offer they might want to try the wrist spinners in the future. But at the moment Ashwin and Jadeja are the No.1 and 2 Test bowlers in the world,” Irfan said giving his opinion on the Indian Test specialists.