Ravichandran Ashwin along with Ravindra Jadeja has been left out of the Indian team in the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. This has led to a streak of comments from former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh and former captain Sourav Ganguly. Harbhajan Singh is not optimistic about Ashwin’s position in the team and believes that his omission from the team for the series cannot be rated as ‘rest’ as he is set to play in county cricket during the same period.
Harbhajan Singh is not alone in raising questions over Ashwin’s omission, former captain Sourav Ganguly also feels that Ashwin’s place in the ODI set up is under scrutiny as he has failed to perform well in the limited over format. Ashwin has managed to pick up just eight wickets in the last ten one-day internationals and had a miserable champion’s trophy where he managed to pick up just one wicket in three matches.
Sourav Ganguly feels that his position in the ODI team is not cemented and feels that Kuldeep Yadav is someone who could be a frontline spinner for India on tours outside the sub-continent. He said,
“I know where Harbhajan Singh is coming from because whether it is him or me we have seen such situations very closely in teams and understand the team dynamics. Ashwin’s performance in Sri Lanka has been in the Test matches. In sub-continent conditions, in Test matches, there are no doubts about R Ashwin’s place. But I have a feeling that Kuldeep Yadav is slowly going to get into the ODI side as a frontline spinner, especially on pitches which do not respond to the spinners when they go to South Africa, England, and Australia and considering they are going to play the World Cup in England.”
Ganguly thinks that Jadeja’s position in the team is not under any threat because of his all-round capabilities and his exceptional fielding.
“I was present at the Champions Trophy commentating and I could get a feeling around that there could be a possibility in due course that both Jadeja and Ashwin don’t play on good pitches. Jadeja is a far better fielder, he can bat, he is a left arm spinner who is good in one-day cricket. So Jadeja is a package in ODI cricket. We have been hearing Virat Kohli harping on fitness with Yuvraj Singh not getting past the fitness mark and R Ashwin is probably not the quickest on the field and all these considerations will come back. If Kuldeep Yadav keeps performing then I think there will be pressure on either R Ashwin or Jadeja and Jadeja’s fielding and batting could just be a bit more beneficial to him.”