Former India pacer Ashish Nehra believes that Navdeep Saini should be the “first choice” for the third fast bowler’s slot in the upcoming third Test against Australia because of his extra pace and ability to extract disconcerting bounce.
While Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan are also in contention, the former left-arm pacer feels the selection of Saini for the Sydney Test, starting Thursday, is a no-brainer if one goes by pure cricketing logic.
“If you look at squad composition, Saini was first choice and Shardul and Natarajan both came in as replacements for Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav,” Nehra said on Tuesday.
“So if Saini was ahead of them during initial Test squad selection, I don’t see any reason why he would slip down in the pecking order. You selected him first, so obviously you believed he was better than other two. Isn’t it,” Nehra, known for his plain speaking, said.
He gave his points as to why Saini would be better suited for Sydney.
“Navdeep’s biggest asset are bounce and extra pace. This is a Test match. How does Natarajan normally gets his wickets? When people are trying to hit him. Also, you haven’t tested Natarajan by playing him for India A like you did with Siraj, who has risen through the ranks,” said Nehra.
“Similarly, Navdeep has also come up the ranks having been on multiple red ball tours of India A. In Test matches, batsmen normally don’t get out. You have to get them out. That’s the difference.”
The white-ball games that were held in Sydney indicated that the deck was a flat one and express pace comes in handy on such surfaces.
“On Sydney pitch, you will require a bit more pace and Navdeep has that. There shouldn’t be any debate as such. Sydney pitches what I saw during white ball games, it was very flat.
“So when kookaburra seam will flatten out after some time, you will, require that extra pace that Navdeep has and also he can get a bit of reverse swing,” said one of his India’s finest exponents of swing bowling.
The other factor is the current Australian team's inability to play short-pitched bowling.
“Also this Australian team is susceptible to short-pitched bowling. Navdeep can be used better as he bowls a mean bouncer compared to a Natarajan or Shardul.” “His average speed is around 140 but out of the three, Navdeep is best suited to play the Sydney Test match.”