A bowler of Ravichandran Ashwin’s calibre can’t be put on “trial”, while someone possessing Suryakumar Yadav’s ability need not worry about his place in the World Cup squad, an unusually aggressive head coach Rahul Dravid said on the eve of three-match ODI series against Australia.
Ashwin has been called up alongside Washington Sundar as a possible replacement for Axar Patel if the spin-bowling all-rounder fails to recover from his quadricep tear.
While this ODI series has been billed as a trial between Ashwin and Washington, the India head coach doesn’t want to use the word “trial” for someone of the stature of the veteran off-spinner.
“I will not say that for him it is a trial or anything (for Ashwin), we know his quality. This is a chance for him to play in this format and we just want to give him an opportunity to play in two or three games,” Dravid said during the media conference.
“If we have a player like Ashwin, who we can rely upon if someone is injured, it’s a blessing for us. It’s a good chance for him to test himself because he has not played 50-over cricket for a long time,” Dravid said about the bowler, who has 151 ODI wickets in 113 games but has played only two 50-over games for India in the past six years.
