Playing Ashwin, Jadeja together will depend on Edgbaston conditions: Ajit Agarkar

Mumbai: In the Test series against England last year, India preferred playing just the lone specialist spinner in all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja alongside four pacers. It meant that ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin never got a look into the playing eleven throughout the tour as India took a 2-1 lead before the fifth Test in Manchester was rescheduled to July 1-5 at Edgbaston this year.
With India now returning to play the fifth and final Test of the series at Edgbaston, both Ashwin and Jadeja are coming back into Test cricket action after longish breaks. While Ashwin picked two wickets in the final innings of the warm-up match against Leicestershire after recovering from Covid-19, Jadeja made 13 and 56 not out with the bat while picking 3/28 and 1/35 with his left-arm spin.
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“I think Shardul (Thakur) can offer enough with the bat at eight and did that as a fourth seamer in South Africa as well. That’s generally been the combination in the last series. They might look at (continuing) that unless like we saw in Leeds, there was a lot of spin on offer.” “If that’s the case, then you have got two world-class spinners; the record tells you that of having taken over 200 (Jadeja, 242) and 400 (Ashwin, 442) Test wickets. But it will completely depend on whether the pitch has anything to offer as the game progresses,” said Agarkar in a virtual interaction organised by Sony Sports.
With Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami certain to play, India will be concerned with who plays the third seamer role. Last year, Mohammed Siraj picked 14 wickets in four matches, including taking eight wickets in a famous victory at Lord’s.