‘Ashwin very much in frame for 2019 Cricket World Cup’
LOOKING AHEAD His ineffectiveness in English conditions is not a cause for worry, says bowling coach Bharat Arun
PALLEKELE: India declared the Sri Lanka One-day series was the start of a long tune-up for the 2019 World Cup, and their second string spinners shared seven wickets tor out the home team in the first match in Dambulla.
While India continued their total domination in Sri Lanka, skipper Virat Kohli spoke about plans to try out players in different roles and all eyes were on former skipper MS Dhoni.
However, one question is what role the team management saw for its main sp inner, R Ash win, in the build-up to the premier tournament.
The 2019 World Cup will be played in England and Wales, where sea me rs would fancy their chances more. Though the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy editions saw good batting surfaces, it still left many wondering where India’s premier bowler fitted in.
The national selectors had not picked Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who had together claimed 30 wickets in the 3-0 Test series sweep ahead of the ODI series --four others shared 25 sc alps. Ashwin packed his bags to play in the English County, and get used to conditions as India are due to play a Test series there next year.
India bowling coach Bharat A run, however, said Ash win was very much part of the long-term plans as India prepare for the event. This, despite Ash win making only sporadic appearance sin the ODI squad.
It will be a major move if the Indian think-tank is looking beyond the spinner, but Ashwin played only three matches in the ICC Champions Trophy, and took just one wicket against South Africa. He played in the defeat against Pakistan in the final, but returned wicket less giving away 70 runs.
Arun though chose to look at Ash win’ s last O DI game –3/28 in the West Indies where he played in the first three matches.
“To be honest, this is a question you should be asking the selector,” he said, asked about Ashwin’s infrequent ODIs.
“Asa bowling coach, he isa talented bowler. Even if you look at the last one-day which he played in the West Indies, he got 3/25. Ashwin is skillful. That’s it, I’ve answered your question.”
But what about Ashwin not regularly featuring in ODIs?
“I don’t want to see what has happened so far. What I would like to see is yes, Ashwin is also part of the team we are looking at. We are also looking at giving opportunities to other bowlers. We have a long-term plan in place, we will work accordingly .”
Ashwin’s record away from the sub-continent has not been great. From the team’s point of view, while it has wrist-spin options in leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, there is hardly any back-up off-spinner of quality at the moment.
› arun says Yes, Ashwin is also part of the team we are looking at. We are also looking at giving opportunities to other bowlers. On R Ashwin Why only offspinner, we will need to have backup options for every bowler that we have. And there are enough bowlers in our country. On the bench strength