'I feel Team India must start rotating their players', says former Pakistan skipper

Team India went ahead with the same playing XI in the third Test that brought them glory at Lord's. The Men in Blue decided to sit Ashwin out despite being aware of the nature of the Headingley surface.

However, India could not build on their confidence and had a disappointing outing as they were bowled out for 78 runs. Now, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt said India must rotate their players in the ongoing series in England in order to avoid fatigue.

“I feel Team India must start rotating their players,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.

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“Team India plays a lot of cricket and their schedule is completely cramped. When you play too much cricket, no matter how good or professional you are, as a human, sometimes the mind just doesn’t respond. When your focus level falls, your output is bound to decrease,” he said.

“You can imagine the amount of matches Team India cricketers are playing. Remember, recently, they had to send a second team to Sri Lanka because of excess engagement. There are no doubts over the quality and skills of Team India’s players. But I feel too much of cricket has got to them. They need to rotate two-three players and have the arsenal. Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur can come in. They can play another batsman as well,” Butt added.

By the end of Day 2, England took a mammoth lead of 345 runs after the hosts scored 423 runs at the loss of 8 wickets. Skipper Joe Root smashed 121 runs off 165 balls laced with 14 hits to the fence.