Kris Srikkanth is not able to make sense of the fact that Ravichandran Ashwin has been picked for the T20I series against West Indies, while he was out of the T20I team for a long time and didn’t even feature in a big T20I series against England in England.
Srikkanth is one of the analysts on Fancode for the T20 internationals between India and Windies and he said that when he looks at the composition of India’s T20I team, he concludes that Jadeja has to play because he is an allrounder and can bat in the top 6. So, he will be the first spinner to be picked.
The strongest contender for the second spinner’s role has to be Yuzvendra Chahal because he is a wrist spinner and wrist spinners might be useful in Australia where there might not be too much assistance in the surface for finger spinners.
And, if the Indian team management wants a backup for the spin bowling allrounder’s slot, it’s confusing whether that backup is Axar Patel or Ashwin because right now it seems Ashwin has been brought in for his all-around abilities.
Ravichandran Ashwin since his comeback in T20Is:
Innings – 8
Overs – 32
Wickets – 12
Average – 15.4
Economy Rate – 5.78Advertisement— 12th Khiladi (@12th_khiladi) August 3, 2022
Ravichandran Ashwin was out of India’s white-ball set-up for more than three years
Ravichandran Ashwin was out of India’s T20I and the entire white ball set-up for a period of more than three years before he was brought back for the T20 World Cup last year. Ashwin was not India’s first choice spinner in the T20 World Cup, but in the matches that he has played after the World Cup, his economy rate has been less than six, which is outstanding.
Apart from his performances in T20 internationals since his comeback, Ashwin had a very decent IPL too earlier this year, both with bat and ball. So, it’s interesting that Kris Srikkanth is not much impressed with Ashwin’s comeback and his presence in the white ball set-up, even though the off-spinner has been consistently justifying his selection.
First T20I in 8 matches when Ashwin has gone wicketless since his comeback to the Indian team. In these 8 matches, he has picked 12 wkts at an avg of 15.41 with an ER of 5.78. Only once in these 8 matches he has gone at 8 RPO which was the last game. On 5 occasions, his ER <6.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) August 2, 2022
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