Team India team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has finally acknowledged that despite the recent success of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the shorter formats of cricket, it simply does not mean that it is the end of the road for veterans spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

While captain Virat Kohli has backed his wrist spinners for having the x-factors and they can be instrumental in the upcoming World Cup in 2019, Arun reckons that the duo is still not out of the race and have a chance to come back into the squad.

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Addressing the media on the eve of the fourth ODI at Johannesburg, Arun said, “At that point of time, we wanted to try out all the talent we had and then wanted to decide who we wanted for the World Cup. We had a good pool of bowlers and given the volume of cricket we are playing, we needed to keep rotating the bowlers and keep them fresh for every format.”

He further added, “These two bowlers showed a lot of promise and we thought that in these conditions wrist spinners would do a lot more than the finger spinners. They have come to the party here. It is not that Ashwin and Jadeja are out of the race, they could still be on the team.”

However, the Indian bowling coach was also quick to praise the role of the wrist-spin duo in the team and said, “They are extremely positive, not afraid to flight the ball, not afraid to impart extra spin to gain something. And they are not dependent on the wicket. They get a lot out of the air. These bowlers have really understood their roles, understand the conditions well and I can only say they have performed exceptionally well.”

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Arun further elaborated, “They have troubled the best batsmen in the business back home. And we were extremely confident they would come here to South Africa and would make inroads into their batting.”

India and South Africa will lock horns for the fourth ODI at the Wanderers, Johannesburg, which will also be the ‘Pink ODI‘. Looking at the past records, the Proteas are yet to lose a ‘Pink ODI’ as they have won on all the five occasions.