On a day when they slogged it out in the Ranji Trophy with contrasting results, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were ignored by the national selectors for the third straight time as they continued to persist with the younger crop for the upcoming One-Day International series against New Zealand.
MSK Prasad had initially said the two senior spinners were rested for the limited-overs' series against Sri Lanka, but bypassing them for the Australia and now the New Zealand leg is an indication that they are slowly falling off the radar as far as limited-overs' cricket is concerned.
With Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal doing fairly well in the past three series, it is difficult to see Ashwin and Jadeja return for New Zealand one-dayers, as India has already started preparation for the 50-overs' World Cup in 2019 in right earnest.
Jadeja may feel hard done, as he was again ignored on a day when he smashed 150 for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir.
Ashwin had a slightly tougher day; he bowled 24 overs for 60 runs, taking just a wicket against the weakest team in the competition -- Tripura.
Teams like Australia and New Zealand are vulnerable against wrist spinners, as Kuldeep and Chahal had shown against the Aussies, and Karn Sharma against the touring New Zealand 'A' side, which had a lot of senior internationals.
In fact, all of India's leading Test bowlers, including Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ashwin and Jadeja, have failed to find favour with the selectors for limited-overs' cricket.
Shami and Umesh were selected for the ODI series against Australia; both got a game each after which they were sidelined as the selectors decided to continue with Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, while Shardul Thakur made a comeback.
Ashwin last played in India's ODI team in June, against the West Indies; he claimed just four wickets in three games, while Jadeja went wicketless in two matches in the same series.
Recently, Ashwin cleared the yo-yo fitness test to stake claim for his return to the limited-overs' team, but it looks like the selectors are still not impressed.
With Chahal and Kuldeep performing so impressively in the last few series, it remains to be seen if and when Ashwin and Jadeja will get a chance to make a comeback as also stake claim for a place in India's team for the 2019 World Cup.
India's team for New Zealand ODIs: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (w/k), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.
