Ravichandran Ashwin, a seasoned off-spinner, was the center of attention when he entered the nets on Thursday. Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar, two left-handed hitters, were facing throw downs from Nuwan Seneviratne and fielding coach T Dilip in the second and third nets.
Local kid Shubman Gill was put to the test by the toe crushers from Jasprit Bumrah in the opening net. After speaking briefly with coach Rahul Dravid, Ravichandran Ashwin immediately began bowling to Gill.
It was noteworthy to observe Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowling together to Gill and Kishan, respectively, during India’s Thursday net session. It might indicate that the pair will be included in the starting XI.
R Ashwin will participate in all three games of the series, Dravid further said.
Ravichandran Ashwin back in Team India
Ashwin has participated in the Tests against the West Indies since the IPL and has been quite active in the Chennai First Division league. He also attended a training session at the NCA ten days ago, and on Tuesday, he played a 50-over match in Chennai to get match-ready.
“This is not a trial for Ashwin,” said Dravid before explaining the reasons for his inclusion.
“Having someone of Ashwin’s experience to come back is always good for us. Someone like Ashwin provides you that experience, that ability to also contribute with the bat at No. 8 and someone we always thought of in case, there are certain opportunities opened, he is someone who is definitely a part of your plans and someone of his experience, I know has not played a lot of ODI cricket of late but someone of his experience can do that really well,” he said.
With the ODI World Cup 2023 just on the corner, there have been questions over the selection of Ashwin, who has only featured in two ODIs in the last six years. However, he is still India’s top off-spinner. Another instance of it was the Thursday night net session.
When Ravichandran Ashwin bowled to Gill, there were cheers and applause. There were a few subpar deliveries as well, but the senior operator responded right away.
After some time, Ashwin switched his focus to Kishan. In contrast to his most likely opening partner on Friday, Kishan immediately used his feet and fired a few lofted strokes at Ashwin without showing any respect.
Ashwin, being the cunning fox that he is, adjusted the angle, causing Kishan to get done around his legs twice. Ashwin probably only smiled once while being patted on the back by batting coach Vikram Rathour. Ravichandran Ashwin padded up and engaged Rathour in a few throwdowns after an hour of bowling.
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