IND vs SA 2022: “Always rated Ashwin when he is bowling spin” - Ajay Jadeja backs Team India’s move to play off-spinner over Yuzvendra Chahal

Ajay Jadeja backed Team India’s decision to play off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of leggie Yuzvendra Chahal in all three T20Is of the recently concluded series against South Africa. The former India batter pointed out that given the number of left-handers in the opposition camp, Ashwin was always going to be the preferred choice.

Although Ashwin went wicketless in the T20I series against the Proteas, he was among the team’s most economical bowlers. In the first match of the series, he gave away only eight runs in his four overs.

Praising the 36-year-old, Jadeja said during an interaction on Cricbuzz:

“I think Ashwin did a fabulous job. I’ve always rated Ashwin as a spin bowler, when he is bowling spin. That’s another thing that’s got cleared. What he does at the IPL is different.”

On Chahal not getting a game, Jadeja opined that since the current Team India management places a lot of emphasis on match-ups, the leggie was never going to be in the scheme of things for the series. He elaborated:

“Chahal, it’s not that he’s been left out because Ashwin has come in. The number of left-handers that the South Africans had, and now that you are playing role-play, then the match-up comes in as well. You were never going to play Chahal with 4-5 left-handers in that batting order."

Ashwin was Team India’s most economical bowler in the third T20I. He registered figures of 0 for 35 in his four overs, even as South Africa posted an imposing 227 for three.

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“I still feel we are not sure” - Ajay Jadeja reckons Team India not a settled outfit

While Team India beat both Australia and South Africa 2-1 at home in consecutive T20I series, Jadeja still believes that the Men in Blue are far from a settled outfit.

Blaming it on over-experimentation, he explained:

“What we have done in the last 6-8 months or a year is that we have played with different people at different times. We’ve not ever got to a stage where we said, this is the side that looks the best. Now, of course, we have picked the side (for the T20 World Cup). I am not going at what is happening now. But over a year, we tried out many players.

"We did not say these are the players, let's see what they can do in different forms. I still feel we are not sure because, at this moment also, I can’t pick a guy who is going in place of Bumrah."

Team India rested Virat Kohli and KL Rahul for the dead rubber against South Africa on Tuesday, October 4. The hosts went down by 49 runs, faltering in a chase of 228.