India’s cricket team for the first 3 One Day International matches against Australia is announced. The absence of key off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja is felt very much against a redoubtable Aussie side. Resting off spinner Ashwin is not a correct decision as Australians are weak against off-spin and we ought to have had two off-spinners in our side as we used to have both Prasanna and Venkataraghavan in the past. Resting Ashwin will have a direct impact on his off spin talent against a stiff opposition. The selectors have made a blunder by omitting the spin duo for the key games, which include Chennai, the home ground of Ashwin. Selectors did the same thing for the second part of the Sri Lankan series and left out the star spinner. For building a team for 2019 World Cup with such an indifferent attitude is not good for the team. Selectors ought to have given chance to Ashwin in the first 3 matches and after seeing the outcome of the series, the off-spinner could have been rested and Jadeja given a chance in his place. This could have been the better option. We generally bank on batting and neglect our bowling and that is clearly evident from this partial selection. Selectors strive for excellence but let down the star players in the name of rotational policy.
S. Akhilesh
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
