What’s the story?
Ahead of the start of the T20I series against England starting at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur, India have decided to rest Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin and have replaced them with Amit Mishra and Parvez Rasool.
Reports had emerged that both Jadeja and Ashwin will be given a break before the restart of the Test season and it has now been confirmed that the duo will no part in the three-match T20I series starting on Republic Day.
In case you did not know...
On Sunday, India clinched the ODI series 2-1 after the visitors won the third game by 5 runs at the Eden Gardens. Chasing a score of 322 to make it 3-0 in their favour, the hosts fell just short of reaching the target despite a valiant effort from Kedar Jadhav, who made a 75-ball 90.
The heart of the matter
Both Ashwin and Jadeja were picked to play in both the ODI and T20I series when the squad was announced on the 6th of January and had contrasting outings with the ball in the 50-over series.
While the former found it hard to replicate his Test success in coloured clothing, the latter proved to be economical with the ball, in excellent batting conditions.
But with India set to resume their Test season a week after the conclusion of the T20I series, it does make sense to give both Jadeja and Ashwin a breather before the one-off Test against Bangladesh and the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, that succeeds that.
What’s next?
Rest for Jadeja and Ashwin now presents an opportunity for Mishra and Rasool, who will be itching to get a game in the series. The former, especially, will want to do well after having sat out in the entire ODI series while the latter will look to put in a good showing if provided with an opportunity.
Sportskeeda’s take
While it is good to see both Ashwin and Jadeja get a break, it does beg the question why Mishra was picked as one of the replacements, considering Yuzvendra Chahal was already a part of the original squad.
The management instead could have opted for a Kuldeep Yadav or a Shahbaz Nadeem, who have promise in recent times.
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