Geoffrey Boycott questions Ashwin's exclusion from Playing XI

It has all come down to the Super Sunday with two heavyweights clashing for the place in the semi-final. Both India and South Africa have followed a similar path in the tournament so far, with comfortable wins in their respective opening games but being toppled in the game after.

India’s combination of four fast bowlers and a spinner went well in their first league game; however, the same didn’t happen in the clash against Sri Lanka. It is believed that Virat Kohli & Co. will look to have some more thinking for their final league game as what will be the best-suited combination.

The familiarity between the two sides is fairly increased after the initiation of Indian Premier League and have faced each other quite a few recently. However, Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t feature in this year’s IPL due to an injury and this could lead to blessing for team India if they feature him in Playing XI as not many have faced him recently.

Geoffrey Boycott’s take on India’s Playing XI:

Boycott, the famous English cricketer believes that Ravi Ashwin deserves a place in XI today. He questions Indian team management by saying,

“Why is Ravichandran Ashwin not playing? I know the standard answers about how subcontinent teams supposedly play spin well, and so he was not used against either Pakistan or Sri Lanka, but Ashwin is the best spinner in the world! He’s clever, experienced, a good bat when required, so it makes no sense to me that he’s sitting on his backside watching. For heaven’s sake, even England has a leg spinner, an off spinner, and a part-time off-spinner!”

The 76-year-old further stated that he didn’t understand India’s strategy of going with four fast bowlers and a spinner on flat tracks like on in The Oval.

“India still seems to think, like some of the other teams, that the ball will seam in England when the weather is poor; but ODI matches in England over the last five years have seen some truly impressive batting scores. Earlier, the ball would seam and swing in cold or overcast weather; but a few years ago, all our Test match grounds spent nearly a million pounds on new drainage, and better drainage helps groundsmen produce better batting surfaces,” Boycott concluded.