Ravindra Jadeja for R Ashwin

R Ashwin has struggled to pick wickets overseas and it is something that puts an asterisk on his brilliant career so far. It happened in South Africa earlier this year and after the first Test in Birmingham, where he picked 7 wickets, Ashwin has returned almost empty handed.

However, it hurt more when Moeen Ali, who was picked as the second spinner by England in the Southampton Test picked 9 wickets to bowl England to win and Ashwin returned with 3 wickets on the same pitch. Given that it seemed like Ashwin had not fully recovered from his hip injury and the after-effects were seen in his bowling.

While Ali got tremendous spin and bounce by pitching the ball in the bowler’s footmarks, Ashwin tended to push the ball faster and missed the footmarks by a big margin and was rendered ineffective with his inability to pivot properly at the crease.

If India wishes to gain something out of the last Test at the Kia Oval, India must replace Ashwin with Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja has been the best bet for India when it comes to spin overseas. His ability to bowl very well on pitches which offer less to spinners has always come in handy. He bowls stump to stump and gets wickets by variation in speed.

His aggressive batting is a plus and India desperately needs runs from their tailenders to score some runs and Jadeja showed he could wield the bat effectively on the 2014 tour as well.