Will Ravichandran Ashwin play in Sydney? The question is a no-brainer if he is match-fit. The question to ask therefore will be is Ashwin fit to play? The answer to that is a head-scratcher. It appears that even the Indian team management doesn’t have concrete knowledge about Ashwin’s fitness or in other words, the captain and team management are probably not on the same page about it.
Moments after Virat Kohli ruled Ashwin out of the fourth Test at Sydney, the team management included the off-spinner in the 13-man shortlisted squad, stating that a final call on Ashwin’s availability will be taken before the toss.
"Well, it's unfortunate that he has had two niggles quite similar in the last couple of away tours," Kohli said on the eve of the series-deciding fourth Test.
"He is very disappointed with the fact that he has not been able to recover in time, but the things have been laid out to him (as to) what needs to be done to get back to full fitness," Kohli revealed.
However, after Kohli's press conference, BCCI issued an official statement which stated: "A quick update on R Ashwin: The team management has named him in the 13-man squad for the final Test. A final decision on R Ashwin's availability will be taken in the morning. We will put out the squad in some time."
Over the past year, the Indian team's communication has time and again come under the scanner with the latest being the Ashwin injury before the all-important decider at the SCG.
During this series only, Ravindra Jadeja was first named in the initial squad for the second Test at Perth and wasn't played despite Ashwin's injury.
Later coach Ravi Shastri, prior to the game in Melbourne, said that Jadeja was suffering from shoulder stiffness and wasn't 100 per cent fit at the start of the Perth Test.
The BCCI went on a damage control mode and gave a detailed update on Jadeja's injury with his latest fitness status, late on January 23.
Ditto with injury updates of Wriddhiman Saha and Bhuvneshwar Kumar before India's tour of England.
In this particular case, Ashwin has been suffering from a left-side abdominal strain, which also forced him to sit out of the final Test against England at the Oval.
That Ashwin's chances of playing are slim became evident when Kuldeep Yadav made it to India’s 13-man squad for the first time in this series. Kuldeep’s inclusion gave a clear indication that India are all but certain to field two spinners at the SCG, which is known to be the closest to subcontinent pitches in nature.
India Team for fourth Test in Sydney: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav