R Ashwin’s back

Veteran off-spinner returns to India’s white-ball squad after four years; MS Dhoni to mentor team

Chetan Sharma’s national selection committee pulled a rabbit out of the hat when they brought back off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin into white-ball cricket while naming India’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup to be played from October 17 in the UAE and Oman. Ashwin’s inclusion was not the only surprise, as the BCCI drafted in former skipper MS Dhoni to mentor Virat Kohli’s men for the ICC event.

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Iyer, Thakur on standby

The five-member selection committee also named three standby players—Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur. In a clear move to do away with wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, the selectors went back to finger spinners in Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, leggie Rahul Chahar and Axar Patel form the spin department. Sharma said Ashwin, who last played an ODI match during the 2017 tour to West Indies, got a look-in after offie Washington Sundar was ruled out due to an impending finger injury.

‘It will help spinners’

“Ashwin has been regularly playing in the IPL and we have seen how well he has performed. When we are playing a World Cup, we need an off-spinner very much. The T20 World Cup will be played after the second half of the IPL is completed and the wickets could be low and slow, which will help the spinners. Since Washington is injured, Ashwin is an asset for the team and because of his good performances, he has been selected,” said Sharma during a virtual press conference.

MS Dhoni

Ashwin bagged 10 and 15 wickets respectively during the 2018 and 2019 IPL editions with Kings XI Punjab. When he moved base to Delhi Capitals in 2020, he finished with 13 wickets with an economy rate of 7.66. Regarding Chakravarthy making the cut, he said: “Varun has bowled very well in Sri Lanka. He is a mystery bowler, which was the main reason to pick him. He is a surprise package. We haven’t figured out what he bowls, so how will the opponent understand him.”

Iyer, who missed the first half of the IPL due to a shoulder injury, lost his place in the squad to in-form Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav. “Shreyas is an important player. When you are away from cricket for some time, so even the selectors have some reservations and that is why he is in standby,” said Sharma.  Commenting on the Dhoni decision, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said: “I spoke to him [Dhoni] when I was in Dubai [2020 IPL]. He was okay with the decision and agreed to mentor Team India for the T20 World Cup only. I  spoke to the captain [Kohli], vice-captain [Rohit Sharma] and coach Ravi Shastri, and they all are on the same page.”

T20 WC squad

V Kohli (captain), Rohit (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar, R Pant (wk), I Kishan (wk), Hardik, R Jadeja, R Chahar, R Ashwin, Axar, V Chakravarthy, J Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, M Shami
Standby players: S Iyer, S Thakur,  D Chahar

Also Read: IPL 2021: 'CSK, RCB can afford to lose couple of games,' says Gautam Gambhir

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