Bowling coach Bharat Arun can justify the stand of the think tank in selecting bowling combination for India’s International matches. There is no hard and fast rule for having wrist spin bowler in the side to support the main stream of bowlers. But in Indian conditions, the spinners share the lion’s share of bowling and Ashwin is part of the mainstream. He did create a record in Indian pitches and worked hard in overseas conditions to restrict world class batsmen with a tight leash of flight and spin. He is a master craftsman as an off spinner and there is no need for experiments on him as he is in fine form.
Instead of keeping him away from the playing eleven in the shortest form of the game, it is time to give him more chance to give maximum appearance to keep himself in fine form. Somehow, the present skipper is having his own liking and trying to project players of his choice and that hamper the rhythm of bowlers like Ashwin in the team. He can win matches of his own as he did in the recent past and his batting at the top order is a bonus. Ashwin understands the art of spin bowling with constant practice and there is no need to rest him for the reasons only known to the selectors. Indian cricket is the loser if we keep him away from the team with lame excuses.
Chitra Krishnan
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
