‘Seems like people are finding points to blame them’ – Ravichandran Ashwin explains why senior batters were rested in ODIs vs West Indies

Team India are currently engaged in their tour of the West Indies. They won the two-match Test series 1-0 after drawing the second game and winning the first one at Dominica. Following this, they also clinched the ODI series 2-1 after suffering a shock defeat in the second ODI. Thankfully, Team India found their way back to form in the third ODI, defeating the hosts by a mammoth 200-run margin. Star Indian batter Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma were rested for much of the ODI series. While Rohit batted down the order, Kohli was only spotted fielding at times. Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin explained the reason behind this.

“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 on his YouTube channel.

‘The trend was – why so-and-so players played and why so-and-so did not’ – Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin also addressed the idiotic behaviour of Indian fans to start cribbing over the loss in the second ODI. “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,” he added.

Team India will next contest five T20Is against West Indies, with some of them taking place in Florida stretching India’s Caribbean tour to the USA. The team will be led by Hardik Pandya. The series is set to begin on August 3, Thursday with the first T20I scheduled to be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium in Trinidad.