Ajinkya Rahane defended the team management's hard call as he felt that combination warranted Ravindra Jadeja as the single spinner and Hanuma Vihari as the sixth batsman.
Former
India captain Sunil
Gavaskar expressed his "astonishment" at the exclusion
of senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI against
West Indies, a team against whom he has done exceedingly well.
However
vice-captain Ajinkya
Rahane defended the team management's hard call as he felt that
combination warranted Ravindra Jadeja as the single spinner and
Hanuma Vihari as the sixth batsman.
"(The
selection) astonished me," Gavaskar said while doing commentary
for official broadcasters Sony.
Ashwin
has scored 552 runs with four hundreds and taken 60 wickets with four
five-fors against the West Indies in 11 Tests (home and away).
"A
man with that kind of record, especially against West Indies. He
doesn't find a place in this playing XI. That is stunning.
Astonishing," Gavaskar said, hardly able to suppress his anger.
However,
India's top performer Rahane explained why the decision was taken.
"It's
difficult when you miss a player like Ashwin but team management is
always thinking as to what is the best combination.
"They
thought Jadeja was a good option on this wicket as we needed a sixth
batsman, who can actually bowl. Vihari can actually bowl on this
track. So that was the communication between captain and coach. It is
hard to find players like Ashwin and Rohit (Sharma) sit out but's all
for the team," Rahane said at post-match media interaction.
