With the exclusion of key players like Ravinder Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin from the first 3 ODIs played against Australia at home; raises a quiet few questions in the mind of cricket lovers.
No doubt both have been at the no.1 Test bowlers on different occasions but when it comes to one day Internationals the story is different. Between the 2015 World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy, Ashwin played just nine ODIs, while Jadeja played 10. Ashwin picked 12 wickets from his 9 matches while Jadeja’s figures are even drastic as he picked only 8 wickets from his 10 matches.
Ashwin Bowling Stats
| Mat | Inns | Runs | Wkts | Econ | Avg | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
| Tests | 52 | 98 | 7377 | 292 | 2.89 | 25.26 | 52.4 | 10 | 26 | 7 |
| ODIs | 111 | 109 | 4937 | 150 | 4.91 | 32.91 | 40.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T20Is | 46 | 46 | 1193 | 52 | 6.97 | 22.94 | 19.7 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Ravinder Jadeja bowling stats
| Mat | Inns | Runs | Wkts | Econ | Avg | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
| Tests | 32 | 61 | 3658 | 155 | 2.33 | 23.6 | 60.6 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| ODIs | 136 | 132 | 5561 | 155 | 4.9 | 35.87 | 43.9 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| T20Is | 40 | 40 | 983 | 31 | 7.27 | 31.7 | 26.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
It may be the major cause behind this to drop them from first three ODI’s not the rest which is the statement given in the media by Chief Selector MSK Parsad. However, MSK Prasad had explained that the duo was rested as part of a rotation plan in place.
But with India winning 5-0 and the other spinner’s three spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yujvinder Chahal showed lots of promise in the last series. This will definitely persist the pause for Ashwin and Jadeja in the shorter format. The Indian squad for the Australian ODIs (first three matches) was named on Sunday and there was no room for either Ashwin or Jadeja. Fourteen of the 15 players from the Sri Lankan series were retained.
Shardul Thakur, who took just one wicket in two games, was the only player missing out from the squad in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, experienced seamers Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami returned to the squad. The selection same as it was expected.
What’s more it will be really ruthless to drop these key players from the ODI squad; as both of them were just focused on Test Cricket in last couple of years and not on ODI. Now board’s final decision will reflect when team is selected for last 2 ODIs against Australia whether they have actually rested Ashwin and Jadeja or they have other things in mind relating to ICC World Cup 2019
India Squad for first 3 ODIs
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhone, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvender Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami
Australia squad
Steve Smith, David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
