India will miss Hardik Pandya: Venkatapathy Raju

There will be no margin for error when Team India set foot on the Ageas Bowl turf in Southampton for the World Test Championship WTC final against New Zealand on June 18They emerged triumphant irrespective of the conditions during their 17match WTC journey which began with the West Indies tour in August 2019 and ended with the home series against England on March 6Former national selector and India leftarm spinner Venkatapathy Raju felt Kohli amp Co may miss fastbowling allrounder Hardik Pandya in the allimportant finalldquoHe would have provided better balance with two spinners and two seamers already in Since we donrsquot have him it would be interesting The spin department is not at a concern at all Fast bowlingwise too we have seen what they are capable of in Australiardquo Raju told midday from Hyderabad on MondayVenkatapathy RajuPandya who last played a Test on the England tour of 2018 hasnrsquot bowled regularly in limitedovers cricket Apart from rolling his arm over in the last ODI series against England Pandya didnrsquot bowl in the suspended IPL14 for Mumbai Indians lsquoLeave it to the selectorsrsquoShould the selectors have taken a chance with Pandya even if he could bowl 10 overs in a Test ldquoWe donrsquot know whether he would have been able to do it or not I am sure the selectors would have done their homework We should leave it to them The teamrsquos very strong Itrsquos just that two good allrounders would have made a huge difference where the combination is concernedrdquo reckoned RajuldquoShardul Thakur has the potential to be a good fastbowling allrounder So for the future it is important we have some good fast bowling allrounders to choose fromrdquo said Raju who played 28 Tests and 58 ODIs He felt India should go in with their seniormost team as experience will play a major role in handling the fickle English weatherExperience mattersldquoThree fast bowlers are good to go with With Rishabh Pant doing well at No 6 there is scope to go with two spinners which should be Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja Ishant Sharma Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami ldquoExperience is crucial as they can adapt to the situation and conditions quickly The combination also has to be spot on We cannot take New Zealand lightlyrdquo reckoned RajuIndia come into the WTC final on the back of scintillating Test series victories in Australia and against England at home India kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the final with a stunning 21 win over Australia achieved with a depleted team Facing a challenge to beat England by at least a 21 seriesmargin Virat Kohlirsquos team toppled Joe Rootrsquos men 31 to top the WTC points table with 722 per cent New Zealand who played only 11 matches in their WTC cycle were second with 70 per centQuality practice a mustRaju stressed that India must get quality practice matches before the final ldquoIn England the conditions will be different India start as favourites but it is important to get some match practice before the final New Zealand are already there and will be playing two Test matches against England It will be serious match practice for them They will be in a different mindset Hopefully the Indian team get at least two practice matches before the finalrdquo concluded RajuAlso ReadRecovered KL Rahul likely to fly with Team India to UK12No of Tests India won in their 17match World Test Crsquoship cycle