Since Ashwin played the last of his 113 ODIs on the tour of South Africa in 2022, he has not featured in a 50-over tournament. He has featured in consecutive T20 World Cup campaigns in between, but he has never earned a place in the ODI line-up, with Jadeja, Patel, Kuldeep, Chahal and Washington Sundar taking over. Given that Sundar is included in the squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games, which coincides with the World Cup, his participation is all but ruled out.
The right combination of spinners is crucial for India in the home game.
During the 2011 World Cup triumph, India fielded only three spinners because they had Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina/Yusuf Pathan and Virender Sehwag — batsmen who could be trusted. The first-team batsmen, captained by Rohit Sharma, are largely one-dimensional.
This means Rohit has to rely on medium pacer Hardik Pandya as his sixth bowling option. Pandya can also be used as the third bowling option if the team management wants to field three spinners in the line-up.
Of course, all-rounder Jadeja plays lower down the order and is the key spinner.
Apart from facing New Zealand in Dharamsala, all of India’s matches against other major opponents are played in spin-friendly conditions in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Skill and.I am one of the Suryakumars/Samsons.
As for Ashwin, who lost popularity in limited overs after the 2017 Champions Trophy, Rohit’s arrival as skipper has reopened doors for him. While he tends to mix up pitches in T20 one-off matches, in ODIs, he has much more room for action during long stretches, which he takes advantage of. His economy rate is 4.94, which is a key stat in a game geared towards batsmen.
Batting Positions
For the seven spots in the batting line-up, which also includes wicketkeepers, the only thing to be decided is which of Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samsoon will make it into the line-up.Reserve middle order batsman as Ishan Kishan is expected to be the reserve opener. Yadav and Samson are being considered as backups as the two first-choice batsmen — K.L. Rahul and Shreyas Iyer — have returned to training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after recovering from injuries.
The squad for the World Cup is expected to be finalized after the West Indies series during the NCA camp. Important choices will be made and the future of ODI bowler Ashwin will be decided.