Don’t leave Ash out

Therersquos no doubt that India is a very good allround cricket team Theyrsquove conclusively proved it by winning consecutive series in Australia and now having success in England albeit Covid whilst they are virtually unbeatable at homeHowever that isnrsquot to say they canrsquot improve Thatrsquos how good teams remain at or near the top by constantly searching for ways to be better Herbie Collins a shrewd Australian captain of the 1920rsquos reckoned the most important aspect of selection was finding the right combinationIndiarsquos best combination includes Ravichandran Ashwin Hersquos a fine bowler under all conditions as he proved in Australia so India need to find a way to fit him into the XI India in trying to find a balance between the right and lefthanded batsmen in the middleorder at The Oval may have inadvertently stumbled on the solution Ravindra Jadeja at fiveSubstantial depthIf Jadeja proves good enough to hold down that spot in the order then the other piece required to complete the jigsaw puzzle is a seam bowling allrounder The ideal player would be a fully fit Hardik Pandya but they do have a second choice in Shardul Thakur That is the great strength of this Indian side they have substantial depthA middleorder that reads Jadeja Rishabh Pant Pandya Ashwin should provide the runs expected of that section With three pacemen to follow the batting is then supported by a versatile attack Thatrsquos the advantage of having a strong wellbalanced attack You donrsquot need huge scores to chase victoryThe simplest equation for winning Test matches is for the batsmen to score quickly in order to give the bowlers enough time to capture 20 wickets The other good point about that middleorder is itrsquos interchangeable Skillwise Pant is the best batsman Hersquos capable of restraint when the situation demands so he could easily handle five especially when India bat firstHowever if hersquos had a long stint in the field he could slide down the order to allow Jadeja to fill the five slot Pandya also has the potential to handle No 5 and given encouragement he could fulfil the roleAnother attribute of that trio is their powerful strokeplay The ability to accelerate the scoring rate is essential in Test cricket and that trio are an ideal combination to take advantage of a good start to the innings They are also a perfect fit for situations where the team is either chasing or setting a targetRohit capable enoughThe only downside would be the loss of Ajinkya Rahanersquos tactical input and his slip fielding to the spinners Nevertheless Rohit Sharma is now an acclaimed skipper and hersquos capable of handling the vicecaptaincy roleOn the subject of slip fielding this is one aspect of Englandrsquos selection process that is definitely flawed Theyrsquore besotted with having a wicketkeeper who can bat and in doing so theyrsquove overlooked the fact that slip fielding standards tend to imitate the form of the man with the glovesThe recent batting contributions from Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow donrsquot compensate for their below par glove work If Ben Foakes is the best rsquokeeper he should play Hersquos no slouch with the bat and his greater range standing back would help widen the slip cordon and lift the standard The return of Ben Stokes will also greatly improve the standard of slip catching which in turn helps make the attack betterThe art of good selection is to be constantly looking for ways to make even a topclass team better The priority is always to win the next match but this should be achieved with one eye on the futureTweaking the Indian middleorder to accommodate the skills of Ashwin should be a priority for the selectors Itrsquos a scary thought for the other Test sides that Virat Kohlirsquos highly successful team can be improved