Why off-spinner R Ashwin could make a comeback for the 50-over World Cup

The culling of players will begin with the three ODIs against the West Indies. Starting with the first ODI at Bridgetown, Barbados, India have 12 games before the World Cup begins. That is if they play the final of the Asia Cup. The continental showpiece event, to be played in a 50-over format this year, will be where India will start fielding their core playing 11 for the World Cup. There are choices to be made.

Since Ashwin played the last of his 113 ODIs during the tour of South Africa in 2022, he has not been part of the 50-over set-up. In between he was part of successive T20 World Cup campaigns, but a place in the ODI set-up has eluded him as the slots have gone to Jadeja, Patel, Kuldeep, Chahal and Washington Sundar. With Sundar in the squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games that coincides with the World Cup, he is all but ruled out.

Getting the spinner combination right is crucial for India at home.

During the triumphant 2011 World Cup, India fielded only three spinners because they had the luxury of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina/Yusuf Pathan and Virender Sehwag, batsmen who could be trusted to roll their arms over. The frontline batsmen of the team captained by Rohit Sharma are largely one-dimensional.

This means, Rohit has to rely on medium pacer Hardik Pandya as a sixth bowling option. Pandya could also double up as a third seam bowling option if the team management wants to play three spinners in the XI.

Ofcourse multifaceted Jadeja bats lower down the order and is a key spinner.

Apart from facing New Zealand at Dharamsala, India’s fixtures against other big opponents are all in spin-friendly conditions of Chennai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata.

New-ball skill

For the six available bowling slots — Jadeja and Hardik taking up the all-rounder slots — having three fast bowlers is a minimum necessity and unless they opt for someone like Shardul Thakur, who can also use the long handle.

The good news is fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna are back to training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Mohammed Siraj is a front-runner and Mohammed Shami is also in the mix.

The other three slots could be used to fill the spinners. It is unlikely that India would field both Jadeja and Axar in the XI as the attack would be one-dimensional and the chances of both operating in tandem are slim.

Instead, there are talks of bringing back Ashwin into the fold as he can also operate with the new ball should the situation demand. Unlike the other spinners in the contention for a spot, Ashwin has the experience of opening the bowling, something he did even as a rookie during the 2011 World Cup against West Indies and in the quarterfinals against Australia.

With a wealth of experience under his belt, Ashwin can exploit the home conditions, and being a finger spinner he can also provide the control.

Even though there is Kuldeep Yadav, with most teams having a left-hander, having an off-spinner like Ashwin is an advantage that India are unlikely to look past.

With two of their first-choice pacers, Bumrah and Krishna, being more effective in the middle-overs and the death, having another bowler who can deliver with the new ball is crucial for the balance.

But at the same time there are also concerns that having four spinners in the 15 would leave them thin on seam bowling options and they should have at least one more in the form of Thakur. In that case, the choice will come down to sacrificing the fourth spinner or the extra-batsman i.e one of Suryakumar/Samson.

With regards to Ashwin, who fell out of favour in the limited-overs set-up following the 2017 Champions Trophy, the arrival of Rohit as skipper opened the doors again for him. Although he has shown the tendency to mix-up the deliveries in the T20s where he bowls one-over spells, the ODIs allows him a lot more space to operate during longer spells, something he relishes. He has an economy of 4.94, a key stat in a game which is batsmen-friendly.

Batting slots

For the seven slots in the batting line-up, that also includes wicketkeepers, the only call to be taken is who among Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson makes it as
a back-up middle-order batsman as Ishan Kishan is expected to be the reserve opener. Yadav and Samson are being considered as reserves as two first-choice batsmen — KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer — are back to training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after recovering from injuries.

It is understood that after the West Indies series, there will be a final discussion about the composition of the World Cup squad during the camp at the NCA. Big call will be taken and the future of Ashwin the ODI bowler will be decided.