Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes that experienced spinner Ravichandran Ash Win “must play” in the Mitchell Gavaskar Trophy series opener against Australia in Perth. After months of waiting, India and Australia, two Test cricket giants, will resume their intense rivalry in Perth on Friday. With last-minute injuries and diminishing player form in the Indian camp, head coach Gautam Gambhir’s decision would be difficult, especially after a home series defeat to New Zealand.
Ashwin, who has sparked criticism among past cricketers and fans for being left out of crucial matches, like the World Test Champions finals in 2023, is back in the spotlight.
With a traditional Perth surface providing value to pacers, spinners have struggled to extract advantages while looking for wickets. Given the presence of Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar, India’s playing XI will likely feature only one tweaker.
Following his poor performance in recent Tests, Ashwin may be in danger of missing another important overseas encounter. However, the former BCCI president had no reservations about Ashwin’s selection. The 38-year-old is the clear frontrunner for him over Jadeja and Sundar, who impressed during the New Zealand series setback.
There is no argument. Ashwin must play. Your best spinner must participate. In Test cricket, play specialists. Also, with the number of left-handers in the Australian lineup, Ashwin is bound to make an impact,” Ganguly said Boria Majumdar on Revsportz.
Ashwin experienced a rare downturn in red-ball cricket at home against the Kiwis. The clever off-spinner’s futile efforts were reflected in his failure to reach the double-digit wicket count in the three tests.
While Sundar and Jadeja led the way with 16 wickets each, Ashwin managed only nine. Another notable aspect of Ashwin’s performance was his failure to take wickets in the first and third Tests. He went wicketless on two occasions: the second session of the series opener and the initial innings of the concluding Test at Wankhede.
Despite his troubles, Ganguly expected Ashwin to make the playing XI because the veteran is considered India’s “best spinner.” Play with expert batters and bowlers, and Ashwin is my pick,” he said.
India’s Border-Gavaskar Series squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant, (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana