Bring Ashwin back in limited overs cricket, says Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh believes that Ravichandran Ashwin should be picked for India's limited overs cricket against the West Indies as he deserves it due to his red-ball form. Ashwin last played a white-ball game for India back in July 2017 and unlike Ravindra Jadeja, has been overlooked by the selectors.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the regular spinners in India's all three formats under the leadership of MS Dhoni and were seemingly successful too on tracks that spun especially in India. However, both struggled in the 2017 Champions Trophy Final and since then captain Virat Kohli decided that wrist-spin was the way to move forward, dropping Ashwin and Jadeja and bringing in the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal into the playing eleven. Although Jadeja was able to make a comeback in the Indian white-ball team in the 2018 Asia Cup, Ashwin has not played a white-ball game for India over two years. With the selectors trying and testing different bowlers ahead of next year's World T20 Down Under, Harbhajan Singh believes that Ashwin deserves a chance in the upcoming ODI and T20 series against the West Indies due to his excellent red-ball form and the kind of experience that he brings to the team.
"This is what I feel, if you are looking to bowl a spinner upfront (which Sundar has been doing in T20s), you rather have a wicket-taker which Ashwin is. Why not (give him a chance)? He has also done a good job with the red ball recently," Harbhajan told PTI at the Australian High Commission.
"Ashwin spins the ball, he has got more variations. Someone like a Sundar needs to learn. I want him to do well. I am all for blooding in youngsters but they must learn else they will be replaced, considering the stiff competition," he added.
Kuldeep had been very expensive in the last edition of the IPL and since then has been out of the scheme of things as far as the Indian T20 team is concerned. Chahal made his T20 comeback against Bangladesh and was absolutely fantastic which again makes Harbhajan feel that why would the team management want to break the Kuldeep-Chahal combination in T20s if they are so successful in ODIs.
"They are your wicket-takers. People who are wicket-takers will always be in the game, be it Kuldeep or Chahal or whoever," the 39-year-old asserted.
"You need to ask the management (if they should be playing every game). They (management) probably want to see what combination works well for them but good to see Chahal back and hopefully, Kuldeep will be back too. In my opinion, they are your two best options," he concluded.
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