The pitch in Sydney has a lot of grass cover, and surprisingly, India went in with two spinners instead of an extra pacer in the fifth and final Test against Australia. The team management didn’t learn from the previous game in Melbourne, where the strategy of playing two spinners back-fired. Harshit Rana would have been handy at the SCG, but head coach Gautam Gambhir gave preference to Washington Sundar, who scored a fifty in the fourth game of the BCG 2024-25.

Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar was surprised by the selection process and questioned the coach and others for making a blunder in a must-win match. The visitors dropped regular captain Rohit Sharma and injured Akash Deep and replaced the two with Shubman Gill and Prasidh Krishna.

“I don’t know what is happening with Team India selection. It is a green top in Sydney, and we are playing two spinners. We saw what Australian pacers did with the ball but we are more concerned about our batting and including batting all-rounder Washington Sundar in the Playing XI,” he said.

He mentioned that the current team management hasn’t stuck to a winning formula adopted in the previous two successful tours of Australia.

“The current team management has failed to stick to what was done in the previous two tours of Australia. I know batting is important, but it is the bowlers who win matches and series for the team. We won the two back-to-back series in Australia because of our bowlers,” he added.