Not been part of India’s tour of the Zimbabwe, R.Ashwin has taken enough rest and has now started training with the Jolly Rivers Cricket club teammates. Jolly Rovers Cricket Club is one of the finest clubs in the country as about 25 players from this club has played international cricket for Indian team which is a great achievement for the club. S. Badrinath, L. Balaji, M. Vijay, R. Ashwin, D Karthik are few players who are the product of this club.
With just a month to the West Indies tour, the off-spinner has started preparing for it and is sharpening his skills under the coach M Jayakumar. On Friday, Ashwin trained for around three hours and was receiving continued guidance from his coach. Fitness drill was also part of his tough training.
“Ashwin was waiting for the formalities to conclude before commencing his training with Jolly Rovers. It is nice to have him back in the side he started playing,” a source told TOI on Sunday (June 12) evening.
“The West Indies tour has four Tests and will be a long tour. Ashwin wanted to be in the best possible shape heading into that. Also, the Indian team is currently in Zimbabwe for the ODIs and T20s and Ashwin has been rested for that. So, it was important for him to have some good training under his belt,” added the source.
Ashwin will spend some more time with his former club in the upcoming days so as to train as much has he can before the Windies tour because the team will be a test for players under a new leader. “In the run-up to the season which starts next month, the entire Jolly Rovers squad will be in attendance and Ashwin too expressed his desire to be part of it,” mentioned the source.
The Indian team is scheduled to play four matches test series against West Indies after a month and experienced off-spinner will lead the spin attack with Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja assisting him. However Mishra may find it difficult to get a place as the conditions here are known to assist pacers more and also the form in which Jadeja is in the longest format of the game, it gives and edges to him over Mishra. This will be first complete test series outside Asia of Indian team under the captaincy of the new captain Virat Kohli. Though West indies team is one of the weakest team in the longest format of the game but still the visiting team needs to wary of the hosts team.
Last time when the two teams met in a test series was in November 2013, the farewell series of Sachin Tendulkar. Indian team won the series easily by 2-0.