Reports: Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin may be rested for India's T20I series against England

What’s the story?

With three days to go for the start of the three-match T20 series against England, Reports have emerged that India might give their lead spinners- Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin- a break from the series in order to keep them fresh for the restart of the Test leg in February.

In case you did not know..

Both Jadeja and Ashwin featured in the ODI series and had contrasting times with the ball in hand. While the former proved to be economical in excellent batting conditions, the latter failed to replicate his Test exploits in coloured clothing, going at close to 7 runs per over.

The heart of the matter

The ODI and T20I series provided the players with just a small change from the whites and in the first week of February, India will resume their long home Test season, beginning with a one-off Test against Bangladesh, followed by four Border-Gavaskar Tests against Australia.

Keeping in mind the importance of both Ashwin and Jadeja for the Test matches, it could actually prove to be a good decision to rest the primary spinners and bring them back fresh for the Bangladesh Test, scheduled for the 9^th of February in Hyderabad.

If they are rested for the series, then perhaps a Kuldeep Yadav or Shahbaz Nadeem will be drafted into the squad to pair up with Yuzverndra Chahal, who is the other spinner in the squad right now.

Kuldeep featured in the first Warm Up match against England and picked up a five-wicket haul there and has been spoken about highly by various former players, who feel he is an exciting prospect and should get an opportunity. Nadeem, on the other hand, had an excellent season for Jharkhand, taking 56 wickets to finish as the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy.

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What’s next?

A final decision on whether the duo will feature in the series could be made soon and we could perhaps Yadav of Nadeem make their debut in the opening T20I of the series at the Green park stadium in Kanpur on Republic Day.

Sportskeeda’s take

It may actually turn out to be a good move to rest both Ashwin and Jadeja on two fronts. One, both players would get a breather ahead of the resumption of the Test season and two, it will provide Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble to have a look at a few more young turks and see if they can be relied upon when either Ashwin or Jadeja are not part of the squad.