MUMBAI - India has rested leading spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for the three-match Twenty20 international series against England, the country’s cricket board said Monday.
Off-spinner Ashwin and left-arm colleague Jadeja played all five Tests against England, leading the host to a 4-0 victory in the rubber.
They also led India’s spin attack in its 2-1 victory in the three-match One-Day International series.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra and off-break bowler Parvez Rasool have replaced the duo in the 15-man squad, led by Virat Kohli, for the series, starting with the first match at Kanpur Thursday.
Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Lokesh Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Parvez Rasool, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra.
Australia rests Warner
Australia has recalled opening batsman Aaron Finch and decided to rest in-form David Warner in a 14-man squad for the one-day series in New Zealand starting next week.
“David has had a very big summer and will benefit from a break in cricket, both mentally and physically,” interim national selector Trevor Hohns said Monday.
Vice captain Warner was Man-of-the-Match against Pakistan in Sydney Sunday when he hit 130 off 98 balls, his 12th One-Day century.
Hohns praised Finch’s return to form in the Twenty20 format.
“His form in the Big Bash League (BBL) has been very good and he has earned his recall,” the selector said.
Finch said he had made some “slight technical changes” to his game and sharpened his mental approach which had led to him amassing 354 runs, including four fifties, in the BBL.
“I’m pretty comfortable with the changes that I’ve made. I’m also mentally in a better spot for the changes, and probably for being dropped.
“It gives you to time to reflect and analyse your game a little bit more in-depth than if you just roll from series to series,” Finch said.
Western Australian batsman Shaun Marsh is the only other change to the one-day side that has already won the current one-day series against Pakistan 3-1 with a match left to play in Adelaide Thursday.
Marsh comes in for Usman Khawaja who is heading to Dubai early to prepare for the tour of India next month.
The squad will depart for New Zealand Friday with Australia currently holding the one-day Chappell-Hadlee trophy after beating New Zealand 3-0 at home late last year.
The matches are in Auckland on Jan. 30, Napier on Feb. 2 and Hamilton on Feb. 5.
Australia squad: Steve Smith (captain), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, James Faulkner, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
