Former opener Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday backed Ravichandran Ashwin’s return to the One-day International squad ahead of the World Cup, stating that finger-spin could be effective in English conditions.

Ashwin last played for India in coloured clothing in July 2017. Wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have, since then, become frontline spinners for India in the limited-overs format.

While Ravindra Jadeja has managed to make a comeback in the shorter formats recently, Ashwin has not. “Both wrist-spinners (Kuldeep and Chahal) have done well in the last one year. But I still feel that Ashwin is somebody we should look at,” Gambhir was quoted as saying PTI.

Advertisement

“I’ve always believed that a quality spinner is a quality spinner irrespective of whether he is a wrist-spinner or a finger-spinner,” he added.

Gambhir cited the example of premier Australia tweaker Nathan Lyon, who recently made an ODI comeback following his stellar performances in Tests. “He [Lyon] is probably the best off-spinner in the world and is a finger-spinner. I feel that we should not differentiate because there is a wrist-spinner and therefore, there’s no space for a finger-spinner.

“I think R Ashwin is someone we should always consider because we are looking at conditions in England during that time of the year. Wickets could be flat and worn out. So a finger-spinner can be effective with the ball as well,” said Gambhir.

Advertisement

Commenting on opener Shikhar Dhawan, who was not amongst the runs in the ODI series against Australia, Gambhir observed that the southpaw should have played first-class cricket.

“I am a little disappointed because some of the guys should have played first-class cricket. Being away from Test cricket should have actually pushed them to play first-class cricket.

“Whoever was selected to play [only] white-ball cricket, and because it is a World Cup year, I think it should have pushed all these guys like MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu to play first-class cricket,” he added.