ICC ODI World Cup 2023: No Ashwin, no Chahal, can India shine with only left-arm spin?

R Ashwin (left) and Yuzvendra Chahal have been excluded from India's 2023 World Cup Squad. (Photo: Twitter)

Rohit Sharma and Co will start their ICC World Cup 2023 campaign with three left-arm spinners. The selection logic is that wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav can turn the ball both ways, while Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are slow left-arm spinners who offer batting depth.

The omission of R Ashwin, who was part of T20Is until last year, and Yuzvendra Chahal has raised eyebrows since they have a decent record in India.

Ashwin has not been part of the ODI setup since January 2022 and was perhaps not on the radar due to his fielding not being up to the mark, but there was a slim chance since he is a proper batter with five Test hundreds and 14 fifties. He also has an ODI fifty under his belt. Chahal's batting was never a talking point though he was part of the 50-over format until January this year.

It is unlikely that Jadeja and Patel, with similar skill sets, will appear in the XI together. India lost five out of eight games when the duo bowled together, making it easier for the batters to gauge the angles and lengths.

All the teams have a deadline of September 28 to alter the already-released squad. Any changes post that would need approval from the ICC.

Can Ashwin make it?

India had included experienced wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik in the 2019 edition. England pushed senior bowler Liam Plunkett into the mix, who returned with 11 crucial wickets at an economy of 4.85.

Ashwin, who was part of the victorious World Cup team in 2011, perhaps deserves a last hurrah before hanging up his boots. He enjoys an economy of 5.07 in India with 65 wickets in 42 games. It is on par with Patel, who has played only 24 games with 29 scalps at home with an economy of 4.88. Jadeja, an automatic choice in the XI for his fielding skills and batting, has 91 in 65 games at an economy of 4.87.

In the past, Ashwin has gone missing in the World Test Championship final despite being the No. 1 Test bowler.

The curious case of Chahal

Until a few years ago, Chahal was India's spin mainstay, along with Kuldeep, and both would bowl in partnerships to trouble the opposition. They have 135 dismissals in 34 ODIs together.

Chahal has been unlucky to miss ICC events after the 2019 World Cup. He picked up 21 wickets in the UAE edition of the Indian Premier League but was not considered for the T20 World Cup in the same country in 2021. He was in the squad for the 2022 edition of the World Cup in Australia but did not get a game.

Lack of opportunities and being in and out of the side did not help his case. He couldn't keep up to the standards he set for himself with five wickets in as many games in the T20I series against the West Indies last month. He went wicketless in two games and leaked runs.

Chahal returned 21 wickets in 14 games in the ODIs in 2022, but he turned out for only two games this year, the last being against New Zealand in Indore in January 2023.

In India, Chahal has 30 wickets in 18 games at an economy of 5.35 and best bowling of 4/49 but that wasn't enough to earn a berth.

Indian bowlers at World Cup venues

The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, where India will start the World Cup campaign against Australia, is known for its spin-friendly track.

Former India right-arm off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has seven wickets in five games at the venue. Ashwin comes second with five scalps in three games at an economy of 3.53. He was instrumental in India's victory over the West Indies in the 2011 World Cup at this venue. A youngster then, Ashwin had returned 2/41; Harbhajan (1/35) and the slow left-arm spin of Yuvraj Singh (2/18) gave him the cushion which restricted the Caribbeans to 188 in their chase of 269.

Patel and Jadeja haven't played enough in Chennai, with only three wickets for both spinners. Chahal had returned 3/30 in his only ODI at the venue against Australia.

India will also be playing at the Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai), Narendra Modi Stadium (Ahmedabad), Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), Ekana Stadium (Lucknow), M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru) and the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Pune).

Former right-arm spinners Anil Kumble (12 wickets) Harbhajan (10 wickets) have been the most successful spinners at the Wankhede.

The gigantic Modi stadium has been a lethal strip for fast bowlers Prasidh Krishna (nine wickets in three games) and Mohammed Siraj (five wickets in three games). Krishna has not been picked in the World Cup squad too. Chahal is the only spinner to pick five wickets in two games.

Kumble (14 wickets) also ruled the Eden Gardens in his prime. Jadeja (nine wickets) and Kuldeep (six, including an ODI hat-trick) are next in line.

The stadium in Pune has been a fast bowler's paradise with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10 wickets), Jasprit Bumrah (eight wickets), Shardul Thakur (seven wickets) and Krishna (six wickets) among the top bowlers, while Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium has assisted the spin of Jadeja (nine wickets) and Harbhajan (seven).

Dharamsala and Lucknow are newer venues with not enough games to gauge the spin and pace balance. It remains to be seen if the selection committee adds a spinner, a pacer like Krishna or wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson as back-up for KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan or sticks to the initial squad.