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'Many think India's only job is to win World Cups…': Ashwin shuts Rohit and Dravid's critics, defends experiments
Ravichandran Ashwin has defended Rahul Dravid and Co. for giving exposure to fringe players in the West Indies series.
Indian head coach Rahul Dravid preferred looking at the ‘bigger picture’ when Team India was outplayed by the West Indies in the second ODI after resting captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli. West Indies failed to qualify for the 2023 edition of the World Cup but the Men from the Caribbean got the better of an inexperienced Indian batting line-up and tasted a sweet victory.
Shai Hope's men outclassed Team India by 6 wickets to level the One Day International (ODI) series 1-1 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. India badly missed the services of skipper Rohit and run-machine Kohli in the penultimate clash of the three-match series. Interestingly, India's defeat at the hands of the West Indies was its first since 2019. The Indian think tank was called out by critics for resting seasoned campaigners in the series decider.
Reflecting on India's campaign in the Caribbean on his YouTube channel, veteran Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin defended Dravid and Co. for giving exposure to fringe players against the West Indies. “India lost the second ODI, and immediately the trend in social media was - why so-and-so players played and why so-and-so players did not play. I seriously don’t understand why this outrage. Rohit and Virat didn’t play in the second ODI. Even in the first match, Rohit batted lower down the order. So the debate was around whether Rohit and Virat should have played," Ashwin explained on his YouTube channel.
'Many people think that India’s only job is to win World Cup'
“Some of them were perplexed at how we lost to a team that didn’t even qualify for the World Cup. Many people think that India’s only job in international cricket is to win World Cup. The main reason why we consider ourselves favorites to win the World Cup is because of the IPL,” Ashwin added.
Despite losing the 2nd ODI, India opted to rest Kohli and Rohit as Hardik Pandya captained the Men In Blue in the series decider on Tuesday.
A clinical performance by the batters and bowlers powered India to a comfortable 200-run win. Leading from the front, Pandya played a quick-fire knock of 70 after half-centuries from Ishan Kishan (77), Shubman Gill (85) and Sanju Samson (51) had laid the foundation for a gigantic total of 351-5 in the 20-over contest. Citing Team India's recent injury bouts, Ashwin explained why the Asian giants kept Rohit and Kohli out of the playing XI for the 3rd ODI.
‘Finding points to blame Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma’
“ODI matches are very stressful. It will take at least two days for your body to recover. The first two matches in West Indies were played in a gap of 24 hours. Thus, there are more chances of you getting injured. Already we have so many players recovering at the NCA. Bumrah is back after a long hiatus. Prasidh Krishna is back too. So, we have so many injury problems. It seems like people are finding points to blame Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma just for the sake of it," Ashwin said.
After securing the ODI series 2-1, India are scheduled to take on the West Indies in five T20Is. Under the leadership of Pandya, Dravid's Team India will try out the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Mukesh Kumar in the T20Is. “They are trying different players now because they know what they went through during the last T20 World Cup. We didn’t have Ravindra Jadeja and Bumrah, and we didn’t have many fast bowlers. That’s why we are trying different options before the ODI World Cup,” Ashwin added.
