Ashwin, Jadeja likely to be rested for England limited-over series

World’s No 1 spinner Ashwin complained of sports hernia after the final England Test that saw him skip his state Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Karnataka in what has been a packed home Test season for India with the spinners dominating the show.

England will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20Is across the country starting on Jan 15. The one-off Test against Bangladesh will be played in Hyderabad from Feb 8 to 12 followed by the Australia series from Feb 23.

Meanwhile, India’s limited-overs captain MS Dhoni will play in two practice matches for Board President XI against visiting England ahead of the limited-overs series.

Dhoni has not played competitive cricket since the limited-over series against New Zealand in October, although he has been mentoring his state Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy.

“As he is short of match practice he has decided to play the two Board President XI games. One will be day and the second game will be a day-night affair,” an unnamed BCCI official told the Indian Express.

The newspaper also reported that batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair will turn out for BP XI to stake a claim for a place in the limited-overs side.