"He should play" - Aakash Chopra on R Ashwin being part of India's XI on South Africa tour

Aakash Chopra believes R Ashwin should be part of Team India's playing XI in the Test series against South Africa.

Ashwin was deservedly chosen as the Player of the Series for the Test matches against New Zealand. The wily off-spinner scalped 14 wickets in the two Tests and made handy contributions with the bat as well.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Aakash Chopra was asked about Team India's dilemma of choosing between R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on overseas tours like South Africa. He responded:

"According to me, he should play. It's a tough call because where Jadeja scores over Ashwin is that he is giving runs, that you can play him at No.6 or No.7. In my opinion, it's a fantastic headache because Jadeja took just six wickets in the four matches on the England tour."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that R Ashwin and Jadeja can probably both be part of the playing XI. Chopra reasoned:

"If you are going to get only six wickets from a spinner, you will definitely ask a question whether Ashwin can give you better. Perhaps, he can. If you pick a bowler like Jadeja for his runs, not the ideal thing to do. You can go with two spinners and three fast bowlers as well because the fourth fast bowler, whenever he plays, goes a little under-bowled. Ashwin will definitely give you more overs and can probably bat as well as Shardul."

Team India might be reluctant to play two spinners in the South African conditions that assist seam and swing. It will be interesting to see which of the two spinners they opt to play in such a scenario.

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"R Ashwin has the art of taking wickets" - Sanjay Bangar

R Ashwin reached the 300-wicket milestone in Tests at home [P/C: BCCI]

Sanjay Bangar was asked about R Ashwin having taken a huge percentage of his wickets at home, much like the other top spinners. He replied:

"Does it take away anything from R Ashwin? He has the art of taking wickets, how to bowl on Day 1, how to set up the top order, how to take wickets against the lower order, he knows it very well."

The former India batting coach was also appreciative of R Ashwin sticking to his off-spinners during the Test series against New Zealand. Bangar elaborated:

"The most special thing is that he took all his wickets in this Test match with conventional off-spin. So when he bowls in Test matches, he relies more on his stock ball and if you do not rely too much on variation, your stats are always good."

Ashwin became the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to scalp 300 Test wickets at home when he had Henry Nicholls stumped by Wriddhiman Saha. He also needs just eight scalps to overtake Kapil Dev as India's second-highest wicket-taker in Tests.

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