IND vs SA | Ravichandran Ashwin's exclusion is a tactical thing, says Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri has stated that Ravichandran Ashwin's exclusion from the Test side is a tactical decision taken by keeping the larger interest of the team in mind. The Indian head coach had also suggested that the team has a combination of world-class spinners and the team will be decided accordingly.
Ravichandran Ashwin's career is at the crossroads after being benched for the Windies Test series, a country where he has a record to envy for any spinner. After dominating the last home season in a manner hitherto unseen, Ashwin's regular influx of injuries and few bad performances in away conditions made him a second-choice spinner, or even the third spinner in the squad. As hard as it may sound, Ravi Shastri himself feels he and his management has a valid reason which they can't reveal in the public.
"Sometimes in cricket nothing is automatic; when automatic fails you need some fuel. Those are tactical things, which I can’t speak to you. You saw in the West Indies what happened, and now you will see the results. You can’t ask me who plays in the eleven because everyone is part of us.
"The three-Test series will start, (and) you will get a chance to make your own judgement. He is a world class, we got Ravindra Jadeja who is world-class, we got Kuldeep Yadav who will be world-class in due course, he is still young. You guys decide, in a year’s time copy the same question," Shastri was quoted as saying in an interview with Hindustan Times.
One of the major challenges in front of the Indian team management is to give rest to players on a timely basis as overload, as it was evident in the case of Jasprit Bumrah who suffered an acute stress fracture, might become a difficult matter to posses. Shastri is concerned about that but ready to navigate through the "tough process".
"We got to plan, it’s home, away. We got to rest players, we got to see which guy is good for certain conditions, you got to be on the ball all the time, which guy is having niggles or needs treatment; it’s a tough process. We live life in the present. After the event, you get a lot of pens and mike, we love that," Shastri said.