India vs Australia: ‘Kohli & Co made a mistake’ - Vaughan’s pointed observation about India’s playing XI

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes that India missed a trick by not picking Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI for the second Test of the four-match series in Perth.

India went into the match with four pacers in the line-up and no front-line spinner. The trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah — who starred in 31-run Adelaide win — were joined by speedster Umesh Yadav in Perth.

Ravinchandran Ashwin was ruled out of the match due to injury and he was replaced in the 13-man squad by Ravindra Jadeja. But the all-rounder failed to make it into the playing XI and Vaughan feels that India’s tail looks a bit vulnerable.

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Not just with his bowling but Jadeja could’ve added valuable runs with the bat, something which the Indian tail-enders haven’t done for a long time now. Moreover, Bhuvneshwar Kumar — who is also very handy with the bat — failed to seal a spot in the XI.

Vaughan’s social media post read: “Think India have made a mistake not playing @imjadeja ... Not only for his bowling but his Batting at No 8 ... India have a very long tail this Week ... Aussies to win ... #AUSvIND #Perth”. 

Earlier, Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat first in the second test, backing his under-pressure lineup to get through expected pace-friendly conditions.

India captain Virat Kohli said India would have batted as well if he had won the toss but was looking at the positive.

Also Read: Michael Vaughan says green top in Perth could backfire on Australia

“But (it’s) not a bad thing to bowl on the first day on a pitch which has a lot of grass on it,” he said.

“As batsmen, we’ll have to see how the wicket behaves and it might not be a bad thing to see how it plays out. We’ll look to get in with the ball in the first hour and make some inroads.”