Can you select Ashwin purely as a bowler or purely as a batsman?

[Marut]

Incredibly stupid argument to say the least. There is no excuse for poor performance. We cannot wait for 4-5yrs. This is not like a 5yr lock-in Fixed Deposit to save taxes, this is a sport. And we have a billion people. If Ashwin can't do the job, hard luck. We surely have enough talent in our country to replace him. Talking about pacers from other countries, I feel they get respected here because they are reasonably successful. And its not like they have a captain from their IPL team who will pick them in their squad come what may, or a Board boss for who's company he's also an employee. Players from other countries bend their back and perform. And when they don't they're shown the door. They don't warm their chairs endlessly. It is frustrating to see a mini CSK representing India when deserving players don't even get picked.

Why were we taking Kumble abroad in the 90s then? We were taking him because we knew he was a damn good bowler at home and that his overseas record would improve on future tours. The tactic did pay off because Kumble was quite successful overseas during the later part of his career. Kumble was not a good batsman either, still we took him. If India needs to win in Australia, our batsmen and pacers should fire big time, spinners have never won us test matches in Australia, they have at best taken the load off pacers. The combination of bowling and batting ability, coupled with enough international experience makes Ashwin the first choice spinner for India for any game, whether in India or abroad. Where does CSK come in here? In Ashwin, we are talking of a spinner who was the fastest to 100 test wickets, he is not just some mediocre club bowler like you are making him out to be. Who deserves to be in the place of Ashwin now - please demonstrate with evidence in terms of stats, match experience etc. Please don't claim without evidence that there are more deserving spin bowlers for the Australian tour.

[Marut]

No spinner is good enough to be selected only on bowling in these conditions.Either you 4 pacers and 6 batsmen or 4 pacers and a spinner allrounder i.e. Ashwin

4 pacer strategy is risky, given the inconsistency of Indian pacers. If one of them gets injured, it is all over and rest of the bowlers will be overworked and may get injured. A spinner could come in very handy on the 4th and 5th days. Spinner's role in these condition is important even if he does not take a lot of wickets - spinners are needed to keep the pacers fresh and injury free.

[Lord]

4 pacer strategy is risky' date=' given the inconsistency of Indian pacers. If one of them gets injured, it is all over and rest of the bowlers will be overworked and may get injured. A spinner could come in very handy on the 4th and 5th days. Spinner's role in these condition is important even if he does not take a lot of wickets - spinners are needed to keep the pacers fresh and injury free.[/quote'] That is why I want 4 pacers and a spinner.A spinner might be great to keep pacers fresh,but won't take wickets.It would be harsh to expect most of 20 wickets from 3 pacers

[rkt.india]

4 pacer strategy is risky' date=' given the inconsistency of Indian pacers. If one of them gets injured, it is all over and rest of the bowlers will be overworked and may get injured. A spinner could come in very handy on the 4th and 5th days. Spinner's role in these condition is important even if he does not take a lot of wickets - spinners are needed to keep the pacers fresh and injury free.[/quote'] So you expect 3 pacers to take 20 wickets. We don't have bowlers who can take 5-fers, 10-fers in the match.

[bowl_out]

4 pacer strategy is risky' date=' given the inconsistency of Indian pacers. If one of them gets injured, it is all over and rest of the bowlers will be overworked and may get injured. A spinner could come in very handy on the 4th and 5th days. Spinner's role in these condition is important even if he does not take a lot of wickets - spinners are needed to keep the pacers fresh and injury free.[/quote'] How is that 4 pacers in the side are likely to cause more injuries than 3 pacers? It is counter intuitive. With 4 pacers, each of them is likely to get more breaks and hence be more fresh. And the spinner is going to bowl intermittently to relieve more stress... If anything, it will make each of them more effective... If you played 3 pacers + 1 spinner, and one of the pacers is injured, you effectively have 2.5 bowlers to take 20 wickets 4 pacers + Ashwin is the way to go...

[rkt.india]

How is that 4 pacers in the side are likely to cause more injuries than 3 pacers? It is counter intuitive. With 4 pacers, each of them is likely to get more breaks and hence be more fresh. And the spinner is going to bowl intermittently to relieve more stress... If anything, it will make each of them more effective... If you played 3 pacers + 1 spinner, and one of the pacers is injured, you effectively have 2.5 bowlers to take 20 wickets 4 pacers + Ashwin is the way to go...

Spinner anyway doesn't bowl a whole lot in these conditions.

[bowl_out]

Spinner anyway doesn't bowl a whole lot in these conditions.

Yup. That is something I have mentioned before as well... The spinner is not expected to win you matches... He can bowl 25 overs for 60 and pick up 1-2 wickets... And given that I play him at 6 or 7, I expect him to score at least 30-40 runs with the bat as well... Whether you want a Raina / Rohit to do that, or you want Ashwin to do that is a call the captain has to take..