Gavaskar "Astonished" After Ashwin's Exclusion From Playing XI

Ajinkya Rahane defended the team management's hard call as he felt that combination wanted Jadeja as the single spinner and Hanuma Vihari as the sixth batsman

India senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has scored four hundreds with 552 runs and has picked 60 wickets with four five-fors against the West Indies in 11 Tests (home and away). Despite such figures, Ashwin was not picked in India's playing XI vs Windies for the opening Test, a team against whom he has done exceedingly well. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar expressed his "astonishment" at the exclusion of senior off-spinner. "(The selection) astonished me," Gavaskar said while doing commentary for official broadcasters Sony. "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 vice-captain and top-performer Ajinkya Rahane defended the team management's hard call as he felt that combination wanted Ravindra Jadeja as the single spinner and Hanuma Vihari as the sixth batsman. "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. Thanks to Rahane's 81 runs knock, India recovered from early setbacks to post 203 for 6 against the West Indies on a rain-hit opening day of the first Test. Only 68.5 overs of play was possible as inclement weather led to multiple interruptions on the first day of the match, a part of the World Test Championship.