Virat Kohli hints at playing only one spinner in South Africa

The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has cleared that he cannot commit on playing both the spinners during their tour to South Africa in January. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have played important role in the mega home season of the Indian team. But the duo is less likely to play together overseas given the conditions are not as helpful as they are in the sub-continent. However, Kohli also stated that the team considers them as all-rounders and they are no more tail-enders.

In the first Test against Sri Lanka, both Jadeja and Ashwin had almost no role to play on a green top. There is also a possibility that the pitch in Nagpur also might assist the seamers as the team management has requested a green top. Though it would be interesting to see who among the two make it to the playing XI during the overseas tours next year.

We need to look at the balance of the side

Virat Kohli expressed his opinion about not playing both the spinners in South Africa while speaking to the reporters in the pre-match press conference. The second Test match against Sri Lanka will commence on Friday in Nagpur. I can’t commit 100% that we will be playing two spinners, to be honest. We need to have a look at the balance of the side as well. However, both Ashwin and Jadeja, with their batting abilities, are both contenders to start a Test match abroad,” he said.

“It also depends on what kinds of batsmen we’re up against in the opposition. When you’re playing on tracks that don’t offer much turn and bounce, it is very important to understand if the left-arm spinner is bowling to five right-handers or the off-spinners is bowling to four left-handers. “Those are very minor factors that you assess before picking the first-spinner in overseas conditions. But that’s quite far away,” the 29-year-old added.

Virat also revealed that the team considers Ashwin and Jadeja as all-rounders and they are no more tail-enders now. “We count them as all-rounders. They have proved themselves in difficult situations. They are not tail-enders anymore, they are proper all-rounders. Their ranking does justice to that. They have really improved their games. It gives us good balance when we play them both,” the skipper concluded.