India bowling coach B Arun said that the final call on R Ashwin’s inclusion in the India XI for the fourth Test against England in the Oval is to be taken tomorrow itself on September 2nd. He also mentioned that English batsmen are "wary of Ravichandran Ashwin's abilities" on tracks with "assistance".
Ashwin, the no.2 ranked Test bowler in the world, has not played a Test in the ongoing England Test series as Ravindra Jadeja has been preferred over him as a "batting all-rounder".
"Ashwin, no doubt, is one of the best bowlers we have, and its unfortunate that he has not played so far but if there is an opportunity and if we feel that he is going to fit into the scheme of things, they will definitely both be bowling in tandem," Arun said when asked if both the spinners can fit into the playing XI at Oval which aids spin bowling.
He however highlighted English batters' circumspect way of handling Ashwin may lead to a change in nature of the track along with fickle English weather playing its part.
"History at the Oval says that it aids spin but you also know how the Englishmen are wary of Ashwin's abilities of what he could do if there is any assistance from the track. The best thing would be to decide after looking at the track tomorrow morning as anything could happen between now and tomorrow. So we look at it tomorrow morning and decide,” Arun said.
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He further mentioned that India bowlers should not be judged by England’s 400-plus score in one innings given that they have defended lots of low scores as well.
"It's a challenge for bowlers to defend low scores and they have done it in the past. I don't think it's fair to pull up the bowlers if they haven't done it on one occasion and you got to realize we are playing closely fought international series. There are bound to be losses, which we know and we have to accept and take positives and then move on," Arun said.
He also clarified that Jadeja had gone to the Leeds hospital for a scan and wearing the green hospital uniform did create unnecessary panic.
"It was a very, very normal precautionary scan he went through. All he had to do was to wear a hospital uniform and click a picture that created a scam," he said.
Arun also reminded people that this is the same team that came back after being 36 all out and there is no reason that they can't do it again.
"We have done it in the past, we were bowled out for 36 and bounced back. Also against England at home, we came back after big defeat (in Chennai). We can take confidence from what we have done in past. You will see a lot more spirited performance,” Arun added.
(PTI inputs)
