R Ashwin last played in an ODI for India on 2022 tour of South Africa.
India has been put in Group A and will play Pakistan on September 2nd and Nepal on September 4th in Kandy, Sri Lanka in group-stage matches. Group B contains Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
Ever since the 17-member India Asia Cup 2023 squad was announced debates and arguments have raged over the exclusion and inclusion of some players including Suryakumar Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and R Ashwin notably.
India decided to pick Kuldeep Yadav as their lone specialist spinner ignoring Ashwin and Chahal. India captain Rohit Sharma said Chahal missed out because of his shortcomings with the bat. India preferred to go with two left-arm spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel.
Former India cricketers Madan Lal and Karsan Ghavri, had a few issues with the choices that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee made, especially leaving out R Ashwin from the squad.
"What is Ashwin supposed to prove after taking 712 international wickets? He has not been treated well despite being a senior player. Ashwin is a quality player and he should have been selected for the Asia Cup. He will be a key bowler in the ODI World Cup on Indian pitches," he said.
R Ashwin’s last ODI for India came in South Africa in 2022 and he last played a white-ball match for India in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022.
In 113 ODIs, Ashwin has 151 wickets with a best of 4/25 at an excellent economy of 4.94.
India's 1983 World Cup-winning all-rounder, Madan Lal said both Chahal and Ashwin should have been a part of India's Asia Cup squad.
"Australia has played Kuldeep Yadav very well. Yuzvendra Chahal should have got a chance. He is a match-winning bowler. Ashwin is someone who has taken 500-600 wickets... he knows how to take wickets. We did not play him in the WTC final, the team management knows better," Lal said.
“More or less it is the same team which we were all thinking about. The only concern is their fitness because both the Asia Cup and the World Cup are big events and level of fitness is very important. If you are not fit physically then you are not mentally fit either — injuries always worry you. Hope the selectors have taken care of that,” Lal added.
On the other hand, Ghavri had said that India should’ve picked Yashasvi Jaiswal over Tilak Varma.
"Yashasvi did very well in the West Indies. He's in good form and given the way he has been performing, he should have been in the Asia Cup team. He has a bright future with Team India. Everybody is rating Varma very highly, but where is the performance? I hope he does well," he added.
Asia Cup 2023 will begin with Pakistan clashing with Nepal on August 30 in Multan.
(PTI inputs)