The Indian team witnessed a horrifying start to their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign. They lost their tournament opener to Pakistan by a 10-wicket margin. The team combination in the fixture against Pakistan was criticized a lot as the team played with five specialist bowlers and they had no sixth bowling option. India played with the pace trio of Bhuvnehswar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammad Shami, while the two spinners were Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy.

All these bowlers witnessed a terrible outing in the game against Pakistan as they failed to take a single wicket while defending 152. India will play their next fixture against New Zealand on Sunday and the match becomes important for them in the context of making it to the semifinals with the loss in the opening match.

It will be interesting to see whether the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli decides to make changes in the playing XI and opt for the sixth bowling option or will play with the unchanged lineup from the previous match. Former England spinner, Graeme Swann has recent opined that the veteran Indian spinner, R Ashwin can be given a place in the playing XI.

ALSO READ: Asghar Afghan Announces Retirement From International Cricket

During a chat on Cricket.com, Graeme Swann said, “I would love to see Ashwin play, personally. I don’t think it’s about three spinners playing. Who he plays in place of – probably one of the seamers or Hardik Pandya if he is not going to bowl. Yes, Shardul Thakur is also an option.”

R Ashwin has made a comeback to the shortest format of the game after a gap of four long years. He last played limited-overs cricket for India in 2017. Ashwin had conceded 23 runs without a wicket against England in the first practice match while he was more effective against Australia and picked a couple of wickets for eight runs in the second warm-up match. Grame Swann has stated that Ashwin should be included in the playing XI as he is a big-time player and can perform in must-win games.

ALSO READ: Twitter reacts as Chris Woakes grabs a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss Steve Smith

Graeme Swann concluded, “I am very biased towards spin so I would like to see R Ashwin in. He is a brilliant bowler. Got a lot of variations and is a big-time player. He can really turn up and perform in a must-win game.”