Veteran India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were spotted training together ahead of the first Test match of the series against South Africa.
The veteran spinners will reunite for the first time after the World Cup 2023 campaign. India are playing a 2-match Test series against South Africa, starting on 26 December, Boxing Day. India have never won a Test series in South Africa and will hope that their senior players deliver a strong performance. With fast bowler Mohammed Shami pulling out of the series due to fitness issues, the onus will be on the veteran spinners to provide variety in the attack.
Ahead of the series, Ravichandran Ashwin posted a video on his social media profile which showed both spinners in intense discussion. Ashwin in the caption asked his followers to guess what they could have been talking about.
With Centurion not expected to help spin bowling, it might be possible that Ashwin does not get selected in the first Test match of the series. The spinner was earlier snubbed in the World Test Championship 2023 Final as well, where Australia outplayed Rohit Sharma’s India. The veteran spinner is nearing the 500 Test wicket mark and will hope to play both Test matches in South Africa.
Gaikwad Out, Easwaran In
India had to revamp their Test squad recently after Ishan Kishan pulled out of the series and Ruturaj Gaikwad got injured. India added KS Bharat in place of Kishan and later named Abhimanyu Easwaran in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
India Test Squad vs SA
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk).