The fast bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur would be the first choice than bowler Nitish Kumar Reddy according to the former spinner Venkatapathy Raju, ahead of WTC 2025 starting from 20th June on Friday against England. India is all set to lock horns against England in a 5 Test match series commencing on 20th June.
Shardul Thakur has experience of playing in England- Venkatpathy Raju
As young all-rounder, Nitish Reddy has achieved in his career. He earned Vijay Merchant Trophy due to his 1237 runs. He made his debut against Australia on 22 November, 2024. In that match, he made 41 and 38 runs in 1st and 2nd innings respectively. the 22 years old has played 5 Test matches yet.
Shardul Thakur is a prominent fast bowler in Indian cricket team. The 33 years old has played almost 11 matches and he took 33 wickets. He has started playing in Test since 2018 against West Indies in Hyderabad. He has been known for pitch in both batting and bowling. He was also part of 2023 cricket world cup.
The former BCCI selector Venkatpathy Raju thinks due to Nitish Kumar injury even if his format is fine as batter but he has to work on his bowling. He think he would rather chose Shardul Thakur as he has more experienced than Nitish.
“But he’s coming back from an injury, and then bowling. The bowling coach is saying he wants Nitish to bowl more. He’s more of a control type. If you are called an all-rounder, you should be able to pick up a couple of wickets also. Batting itself is not enough for us. The competition is going to be good,” said Venkatpathy Raju.
“But if you ask me for the first Test match, my pick will be Shardul Thakur. He’s got that experience of playing in England, he can bowl longer spells, and he’s got that knack of picking wickets with that ball,” he added.
Venkatpathy Raju reflects on India’s core unit
The former cricketer Raju also added by praising others spinner such as Bumrah, Siraj including Jadeja. He has discussed the bowling format among India test squad. He then quoted that,
“I think now we should not follow what the others are doing.Because if you see, if you have Arshdeep (Singh), (Mohammed) Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah, and one bowling all-rounder—either Shardul Thakur or Nitish Kumar Reddy—your fast bowling is okay,” said Venkatpathy Raju.
“But then you’ve got Ravindra Jadeja, who is very good when the wicket starts helping the bowlers. He can bat—he’s shown that he’s a very capable batter also. He can be that spin-bowling all-rounder and bat number six. And yeah, we have to go with our two spinners,” he stated.
“We should not see what the other teams are doing, because they transition their fast bowling. But for us, if you ask me, I would always feel we should go with our strength. So I think it can be two spinners and then three fast bowlers, with one bowling all-rounder,” he added.
Venkatpathy Raju’s take on ‘Bazball’
As a former coach and ex-selector, Raju also spoke about England cricket style. Even they are good team. Ultimately, they collapse in Final. Venkatapathy Raju has stated in a recent interview with News 18 cricketNext.
“England feel they’re well off playing BazBall or whatever.But they don’t always make it to the Test Championship finals, right? So it might be helping them in a way, but there are so many ways of stopping that BazBall also,” said Venkatpathy Raju.
“They are not successful all the time. They were, but now teams are coming with new ideas—like they’ve got different plans and field placings and all. It’s going to be about how you have your field placements and how you’re going to stop them from scoring freely,” he added.