India’s ace off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is set to make his county debut in England playing for Worcestershire. Ashwin has been rested for the upcoming 5 match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting from 20th August. He took 17 wickets in the recently concluded 3 match test series against hosts which led India to whitewash the series 3-0.
With Worcestershire struggling to promotion, Ashwin will make his county debut to improve his bowling for the upcoming test series in England next year. Last time when India went to England in 2014, India won the second test at Lords and then lost the next three test matches. Cheteshwar Pujara will continue his county season. The Indian test team will travel to South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand next year. Ashwin performance in overseas conditions has been poor.
“So it is always good to play and get that first-hand feel of the conditions. We knew they have been contacting our players but from a selection point of view they have been tested first, and then they have been given consent by the BCCI to go and play county cricket,” he added.
RHODES SWOOPS TO SIGN INDIAN STAR ASHWIN AS OVERSEAS REPLACEMENT https://t.co/61gvQQP35Z pic.twitter.com/ZnncSYyIQ9
— Worcestershire CCC (@WorcsCCC) August 15, 2017
Pujara will continue his county stint with Nottingshmare. Both Ashwin and Pujara team might face each other as Worchesthire would take on the leaders Notts on Sept 5th. “Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin will be playing county cricket. Ashwin is part of other formats too, so it is a blessing in disguise for both of them because we will have a full-fledged tour of five Tests in England next year,” said Prasad here.
Ravindra Jadeja will also play in the county season but the team is not yet confirmed. Pujara also performed well in the recently concluded test series with 308 runs in 3 matches. Now with the big overseas tour coming up, Pujara and Ashwin playing in England conditions would help them to perform well in the five match test series next year.
Ashwin has been the backbone of Indian bowling line up. If Ashwin is selected for the ODI series against Australia in Sept. He would be replacing John Hastings. The off spinner has taken 292 wickets in 52 matches and also scored 2035 runs.