Ashwin, Jadeja not out of World Cup race: Arun
JOHANNESBURG: While it may look far-fetched for off-spinner R Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to make a comeback to the Indian ODI team with wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav doing well, the India team management said that the senior spin bowlers are not yet out of race.
Team bowling coach Bharat Arun on Friday said that the pair was drafted in on experimental basis before they cemented the spots. But their success doesn’t mean the door for the World Cup is shut on the seniors.
“At that point of time we wanted to try out all the talent we had and then wanted to decide who we wanted for the World Cup. We had a good pool of bowlers and given the volume of cricket we are playing, we needed to keep rotating the bowlers and keep them fresh for every format. These two bowlers showed a lot of promise and we thought that in these conditions wrist spinners would do a lot more than finger spinners. They have come to the party here. It is not that Ashwin and Jadeja are out of the race, they could still be in the team,” said Arun.
Arun, however, was effusive in praise of the two young wrist spinners.The fact that these bowlers have been able to attack and take wickets has earned them accolades. “They are extremely positive, not afraid to flight the ball, not afraid to impart extra spin to gain something, and they are not dependent on the wicket. They get a lot out of the air.
“I think these bowlers have really understood their roles, understood the conditions well and I can only say that they have performed exceptionally well.
“They have troubled the best batsmen in the business back home. And we were extremely confident that they would come here to South Africa and also they would make inroads into their batting.”