Former India cricketer turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra stated that Team India should have played R Ashwin if the logic behind his selection in the T20 World Cup squad was to use his experience. He also questioned management’s decision to leave him out of the squad after selecting him for white-ball cricket all of a sudden.
Notably, R Ashwin has not played a limited-overs game for India since 2017. And, his selection in the 15-member T20 World Cup squad came as a surprise as well. India, however, preferred to go with the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy against Pakistan and New Zealand. And, he went wicketless in both games. While talking about this on his YouTube channel, Chopra said that Ashwin should have been part of the XI.
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He stated: “Ravichandran Ashwin should definitely have been picked in the XI. He was selected in the squad in the first place because of his experience. What is the point of having experience on the bench? Even if the team had picked a 15-year-old and had kept him on the bench, it really wouldn’t have mattered. Experience can be utilized only if the player is part of the team and the playing XI. If you wanted R Ashwin’s experience so desperately, for sure you should have played him in the XI. There was no point in selecting him otherwise.”
Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar has also questioned Ashwin’s exclusion from the playing XI for the first two matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Notably, R Ashwin was in good touch in the warm-up games played before the T20 World Cup 2021. He claimed 2/8 in the second practice match against Australia also. India will take on Afghanistan in their next match on November 4.
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While speaking to PTI, Vengsarkar said: “Why is Ashwin being so dropped for so long? It is a matter of investigation. Across formats he is your best spinner with more than 600 international wickets. He is your senior most spinner and you don’t pick him. I fail to understand. He didn’t play a single game in the England Test series also. Why do you pick him then? It is a mystery to me.”
