Veteran Indian spinner Piyush Chawla added that veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin would be in India’s starting lineup for India’s inaugural ICC World Cup 2023 match against Australia in Chennai on October 8. Chawla further added that Ashwin’s huge experience of performing well in spin-friendly conditions will help the Indian team as well. However, R Ashwin got the backing of the team management despite having played only 4 ODIs since 2018 as well. He did well during the recently concluded 3-match ODI series against Australia also.

“We all knew that once Axar Patel got injured and was not fit enough for the World Cup, Ravi Ashwin was the straight choice because of his experience and the way he has bowled in the past. It is no surprise. It is a like-to-like replacement as he can bat, and is a very decent batter,” Chawla said in a video on ESPNCricinfo.

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“Ashwin is a street-smart cricketer. He is a very great player. No matter if he is bowling in white-ball or red-ball cricket, he is always thinking about the game. He is always connected to the game. So although he has not played a lot of cricket in ODIs over the last two years, he is a really good bowler and will do good for the team. Nobody thought Ashwin would play. But he is walking into the playing eleven straight away against Australia at Chennai which favours spin. He knows how Chennai’s conditions are and has played enough cricket there to exploit these conditions,” he concluded.

India’s Squad for ODI World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.