'Trying Different Players Because..': R Ashwin Defends Rahul Dravid, Justifies Experiments Before ODI World Cup

Team India spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin has come out in the defence of head coach Rahul Dravid why he also gave an insight into why so many experiments were carried out by the Indian management ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested for the second ODI which drew a lot of backlash on social media against Dravid, and in the third ODI on Tuesday, August 1, Rohit and Virat were rested again as fans turned on Rohit and Dravid.

Ashwin has hit back at the critics of the Indian captain and the head coach, saying that Rohit batted in the lower order in the first ODI as well. Pointing to the current crop of injured players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul among others, due to which the indian management has been forced to make multiple changes into the side.

“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,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

“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 favourites to win the World Cup is because of the IPL,” he added.

The 36-year-old pointed out the absence of key players and what happened during the T20 World Cup last year as the two factors why India used the series against West Indies to make multiple experiments.

“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,” stated Ashwin.

India won the ODI series 2-1 after registering a record 200-run win over Shai Hope’s side, and a young-look side will now lock horns with the Caribbean side in the five-match T20I series.