India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is looking in terrific rhythm in his comeback ODI series against Australia at home.

Ashwin returned with bowling figures of 1/47 (10 overs) in the series opener in Mohali on Friday (September 22). He continued his brilliance in the second ODI in Indore on Sunday (September 24), picking up three wickets in his seven overs by conceding 41 runs.

It is worth mentioning here that Ashwin wasn’t in India’s ODI scheme of things lately and wasn’t picked in the 15-member World Cup squad announced earlier this month. However, Akshar Patel’s quadriceps injury during the Asia Cup 2023 paved the way for his inclusion in the ongoing 50-over series against Australia.

While Akshar was named in the squad for the third ODI, his inclusion was subject to clearing the fitness test. On the eve of the series, India skipper Rohit Sharma revealed that the left-arm spinner is unavailable for selection but he chose not to disclose any specific information regarding the status of his injury.

Nonetheless, Rohit highlighted the impressive form demonstrated by Ashwin in the first two ODIs.

In case, Akshar fails to recover in time, the selectors might consider Ashwin as his replacement in the World Cup squad, which can be altered until September 28.

"He has got the class. He has got the experience of playing the sport and handling the pressure. It is just that he has not played ODIs in the last year or so," said Rohit in the pre-match press conference.

"But you cannot take away the class and the experience the individual has over the years and in the last couple of games we saw how well he bowled," he added.

The Indian captain was pleased with Ashwin's effort and said it gives them an option to fall back upon.

"He has got a lot of variation up his sleeve and in case there is a chance, we can look at a lot of things. Hopefully, the way things are at this point, it does well for us because we have got all the backups ready. "We have given them enough game-time," he said.

Rohit, who was rested for the first two ODIs against Australia, expressed delight over the team’s performance in the last 10 games.

"I am very happy with the last 10 ODIs that we played. A lot of guys came back into form (by) scoring lots of runs and the bowlers are taking lots of wickets. In the last few games, we saw the guys who came back from injuries have proven their fitness," he said.

"(We are) pretty much settled…how we stand, where we stand. Now, it is about taking this whole situation forward in the best possible way," he added.

Both India and Australia haven’t registered a clean sweep over each other in a bilateral ODI series, but Rohit isn’t thinking on that line.

"As a skipper, you will not look into all those things as ‘whitewash is on the cards' and things like that. You want to play good cricket and you want to achieve certain things on the field," he said.

"The last two games, I was not part of them, but I thought we played a lot of good cricket, and achieved a lot of good things.

"We chased in one game, we batted first in the other, got a decent amount of runs and we bowled pretty well in both games," he further remarked.

(With PTI Inputs)