3 Players who might have played their last T20I for India
After a successful Test series against South Africa where they whitewashed the visitors, India will now shift their focus to the upcoming three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. India have never lost to the Bangla Tigers in a T20I game, and they would love to keep the record intact.
The three-match T20I series starts on 3 November in Delhi. India’s regular skipper Virat Kohli isn’t part of the squad as he has been rested, so Rohit Sharma will lead the team in his absence. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah still aren’t fit whereas Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar haven’t been picked.
In the absence of Pandya, Shivam Dube has got his maiden India call-up whereas Sanju Samson has been selected after four years. Many young players are part of the squad, keeping in mind next year’s T20 World Cup.
In the last few years, India have been heavily dependent on the wrist-spinners in the shortest format. The likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have done so well that the other spinners are just not getting an opportunity. Even on the batting front, the youngsters who have done well in the IPL have taken up some of the veterans' places and almost shut the door on them.
On that note, let's have a look at three players who might have played their last T20I for India.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin
There was a time when both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were a must in the Indian setup in all three formats. But after the 2017 Champions Trophy both were dropped from the shorter formats, and the wrist spinners took their place.
Jadeja managed to make a comeback with his batting and fielding skills but Ashwin still hasn’t managed to do so. With all the youngsters coming into the team it seems as if time is running out for the 33-year-old off-spinner.
Ashwin has tried several things with his bowling but he still hasn’t performed as expected. The problem with Ashwin is that his batting skills don’t suit the shortest format.
India is looking for wicket-takers in the middle overs and that job has been taken up by the wrist spinners. The emergence of young spinners like Kuldeep, Chahal and Rahul Chahar has prevented the selectors from going back to Ashwin.
In the last five T20Is that Ashwin played for India, he completed his full quota of overs in only two. He picked up just the two wickets and was pretty expensive as well, which led to his exclusion from the T20 setup. Even in the IPL he couldn't do anything special or noteworthy.
As of now, the young spinners are doing well and Ashwin is nowhere in the picture. If this continues for a while then it would be safe to say that he might have played his last T20I for India.
Also see – World Test Championship points table