Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned the current team management for playing bits-and-pieces all-rounders across all three formats. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, India has been trying to give opportunities to all-rounders like Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube and Suryansh Shedge.
Pandya has struggled with his fitness in the last two years and he is currently recuperating from a quadriceps injury. The all-rounder also could not play consistently for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026.
On the other hand, Ashwin highlighted that former head coach Rahul Dravid replaced Hardik Pandya with Suryakumar Yadav in the playing XI in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Ashwin said on Cricinfo, “If Hardik is not there, it’s Nitish Kumar Reddy and then Shivam Dube. There is no point in harping about players that are not ready to play in your combination. If they are injured, they are injured. That’s par for the course in any sport. Look at the 2023 World Cup, which just fizzled out because Hardik wasn’t part of the combination. But the moment it fizzled out, they were not searching and they did not try to play the sixth bowler. They skinned the cat differently and went with five bowlers.”
“They ensured the rest of the squad did not have a lack of clarity and were very stable even after Hardik’s injury. They got to the final doing that. The players and the ethos in the dressing room is what will win you the World Cup. This bits and pieces has been a fascination for this management. That’s probably why we have struggled in Tests as Tests are firmly for the specialists. It’s match-winners with the ball and bat that this management needs to keep at the top of their mind.”
The former CSK off-spinner said India is currently lacking a lot of clarity for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
“There needs to be clarity before any discussions about personnel. Go to 17/18 players and tell them that we are going to pick the squad from that pool and they play the next 14 months, whoever that be. It has to have two keepers, three spinners and five pacers. Rotate the players in this pool with the vision of putting the best 11, come the first day of the World Cup. As of now, it’s lacking a lot of clarity,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).
India recently suffered a 1-2 loss in the ODI series against England.
