4 Indian players who should have been rested for ODIs vs West Indies

R.Ashwin

You expect him to be in the starting XI as the lone spinner in the upcoming overseas tours. And as the lead spinner, he will be expected to send down a lot of overs in pitches which might not assist him. Those fingers need some rest as he has played every game for India this year except the 5 one day internationals against Zimbabwe.

And at the same time, the captain and the selectors have been under some pressure over the last month or so to give some opportunities to Amit Mishra who had a great success in the IPL. He carried that form in to the Zimbabwe tour where he played as the lead spinner in the absence of Ashwin who was rested. Mishra had tremendous success picking up 18 wickets.

Even though it was against a weaker opposition, the success he achieved was too good to be ignored. He played one game against the Aussies in the recently concluded series, but was taken for plenty. But most of the bowlers went for runs in that batsman dominated series.

Ashwin would probably be the lone spinner in the line up during the overseas tests.

That is why it was important to give him these three matches and see what he can do. This would have given the selectors a better chance to know if he is India’s back up spinner in the build up to the 2015 world cup. But with both Ashwin and Jadeja around, it would be a huge surprise if Amit gets a game in the series.