India are currently taking on England in the fourth Test of the five-match series at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester. Shubman Gill's men are currently on the backfoot, as England have taken a lead on the visitors who scored 358 in the first innings. The Indian bowling has looked quite weak as they have failed to take wickets at regular inervals. Shardul Thakur, who was picked in the side after Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out due to injury, scored 41 wih the bat, and has been pretty expensive with the ball. Ravichandran Ashwin has now lashed out for picking Shardul and leaving out a 30-year-old star.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel, R Ashwin criticized India's decision to pick Shardul Thakur if he only scores 20-30 runs with the bat, and bowls a short number of overs. He felt perplexed at the decision of not to play Kuldeep Yadav.

“If you are only planning to give Shardul Thakur this many overs, and expect 20-30 runs from him – I love Shardul Thakur, I like him a lot – but if this is the usage point, why can’t you consider Kuldeep Yadav? It is just blowing my head away.”

R Ashwin also said that India missed Kuldeep Yadav, as he could have definitely taken a wicket on Day 2. However, it is India's obsession for the extra 20-30 runs at the end that cost Kuldeep Yadav his place.

“I am not saying that Kuldeep would have picked up five wickets if he were playing, but it plays with a batter’s mind,” Ashwin said. “He would have at least picked one wicket – maybe given 40 runs – but broken the opening partnership. I feel India missed someone like Kuldeep Yadav on day two," Ashwin said.

“If somebody had told me that Kuldeep Yadav would not be playing any part in the first four Tests, I would have been very, very surprised. Unfortunately, it is our obsession with batting and looking for those 20-30 extra runs,” he added.