Ashwin a deserving replacement for Jadeja

All captains and coaches have favourites, who they back to the hilt. Reasons may vary from their faith in the ability of a particular player to personal rapport, reports Amol Karhadkar.

All captains and coaches have favourites, who they back to the hilt. Reasons may vary from their faith in the ability of a particular player to personal rapport.

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All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, it seems, falls in this bracket. Ever since he made it to the national squad on the back of an exceptional First Class season in 2008-09, the southpaw has been almost a regular feature in the shorter formats of the game.

He has fared reasonably well with his left-arm orthodox spin, picking up 28 wickets in 33 one-dayers, conceding just under five runs an over, but his batting has been exposed time and again at the highest level.

India skipper MS Dhoni, too, sounded a bit concerned over the all-rounders’ showing with the bat.

“His batting has dipped, but if he can contribute, he is the (only) option with whom we can play five bowlers,” said Dhoni, responding to whether the Saurashtra youngster was being given a long rope. “If you see his bowling in the past one-and-half year, he has had quite a few bad games but overall he has bowled really well.”

Dhoni’s assertion that Jadeja is the only option India have for the No 7 slot is, however, baffling, given the presence of R Ashiwn in the squad.

While Jadeja’s batting graph, as admitted by the skipper, has gone down, the Tamil Nadu off-spinner’s reputation is on the upswing in both the departments.

Nonetheless, Jadeja has featured in almost every one-dayer since he made his debut against Sri Lanka in February 2009 while Ashwin made it to the final XI just once despite being in the squad for 17 one-dayers.

Even in the solitary chance he has had against Sri Lanka, he gave an ample glimpse of his batting talent with a quickfire 38.

Yet, the skipper doesn’t seem convinced with Ashwin’s batting ability.

Asked if he was considering an off spin and left-arm spin combination in Harbhajan’s absence, the skipper said, “If the wicket is not spinning, the left-armers have the ability to stop batsmen from scoring freely. (Pragyan) Ojha has done really well, and we are banking on Jadeja as a bowler.”

But with Jadeja not contributing with the bat, there’s certainly no harm in trying out Ashwin against New Zealand on Wednesday at No 7.