End of road for Ashwin & Chahal in ODIs, no place in India World Cup squad

The writing was on the wall but now it is stamped and sealed! Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal are no longer the preferred candidates in ODIs thereby virtually marking an end to their careers in the 50-over format of the game. Ashwin & Chahal were not selected in the recently announced India World Cup squad.

Despite the World Cup 2023 being held in India, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, and the BCCI Selectors have decided to go with just 3 spinners amidst their mixes. Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav make the list while veteran spinners Ravi Ashwin & Yuzi Chahal have been left out.

The exclusion of the duo from the ODIs was not surprising, in fact, it was just a matter of time before the news made it to the daylight. Only known to inflict terror to opponents, there won’t be the formidable pairing of Kul-Cha in World Cup 2023. On the other hand, India will miss the services of a veteran all-rounder as Ashwin approaches the twilight of his career.

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After the ICC T20I World Cup 2022, Ashwin didn’t play a T20I game marking the end of his career in the shortest format of the game. As for ODIs, Ashwin last donned the Blue jersey back in January of 2022 when India toured South Africa.

End of the Road?

Gone are the days when Yuzvendra Chahal was the first bowler to be added to the India Playing XI. Ironically, the leggie donned the blue jersey in both ODIs and T20Is after serving a long exile from the Indian Cricket Team. But Chahal was not impressive in his last series against West Indies and leaked runs at a rate of knots.

In what could have been a redemption arc, it is now safe to assume that his road in ODIs has ended.

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Yuzvendra Chahal in ODIs

Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Avg	Econ	SR	4w	5w
2016-2023	72	69	623	14	3283	121	6/42	27.13	5.26	30.9	5	2

The same can be said about Ravi Ashwin, once an extremely dependable asset for the Men in Blue is now nowhere near his former self. After being shut from T20is after the ICC World Cup 2022, Ashwin last played an ODI for India 1.5 years ago when India toured South Africa in January of 2022.

Ravichandran Ashwin in ODIs

Span	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Avg	Econ	SR	4w	5w
2010-2022	113	111	1,023	36	5058	151	4/25	33.49	4.94	40.6	1	0

India Squad for Cricket World Cup 2023

Batters: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav

WKs: Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (VC)

Seam all-rounders: Shardul Thakur

Spin all-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin

Seamers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav