Ashwin defends management's decision to rest Kohli, Rohit in WI ODIs

The decision to rest Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the last two ODIs against West Indies has drawn a lot of flak, but Ravichandran Ashwin defended the team management’s call saying critics were finding fault for the sake of it.

The social media and a few former cricketers had voiced displeasure in keeping Kohli and Rohit on the benches in the year of the 50-over World Cup.

"So many players are recovering at the NCA. (Jasprit) Bumrah is back after a long break. Prasidh Krishna also made a return after an injury break. It seems that people are faulting team management just for the sake of it,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

The senior spinner said victory cannot be taken for granted in international cricket.

"Some (people) were shocked because we lost to a team that didn't qualify for the World Cup. Many people think that India’s only job in international cricket is to win the World Cup. People think India are favourites to win the World Cup because of the IPL,” Ashwin said.

Even though India lost the second ODI against the Windies, they managed to register a 2-1 series win eventually.

Will India play 'Bazball'?

England has taken the cricketing world by storm while playing the aggressive ‘Bazball’ brand of game.

However, Ashwin said it will be tough to see India adopting such tactics considering the team has embraced a period of transition.

“We are playing Test cricket really well. But we will go through a transition very soon, and things won’t be easy during that phase,” he said.

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