Raising concerns over the future of champion off-spinner R. Ashwin in the shorter forms of the game, Indian veteran Harbhajan Singh has stated that Ashwin’s fitness could hamper his selection. Ashwin has endured an extremely mediocre patch in ODI’s since the 2015 World Cup, with his numbers reflecting a rather sorry portrait of him. The Tamil Nadu offie was even dropped from the ODI team, midway during the series in Australia in early 2016.
Despite question marks being raised over the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the selectors backed the two tried and tested spinners for the event. The result, however, was far from satisfactory, as both were smashed without mercy in the final against Pakistan.
In the subsequent ODI series in the Caribbean, both were outbowled by the newcomer Kuldeep Yadav. According to Harbhajan, Ashwin might find it extremely difficult to be a part of the ODI team, as his all-round skills are second to Jadeja, and the prospect of Jadeja being a better fielder will help the left-arm spinner.
“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,” said Harbhajan. “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,” Harbhajan added.