Ashwin, Jadeja still in 2019 World Cup race: Bharat Arun

Johannesburg [South Africa], Feb 9 (ANI): Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun on Friday clarified that veteran spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are still not out of the 2019 World Cup race, though the duo was sidelined by wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav lately.

The wrist-spinner duo of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has proved fatal for batsmen in the recent times. The two ripped apart the South African battling line in the ongoing six-match ODI series.

Arun said, "At that point of time we wanted to try out all the talent we had and then wanted to decide who we wanted for the World Cup. We had a good pool of bowlers and given the volume of cricket we are playing, we needed to keep rotating the bowlers and keep them fresh for every format. These two bowlers showed a lot of promise and we thought that in these conditions wrist spinners would do a lot more than the finger spinners. They have come to the party here"

"It is not that Ashwin and Jadeja are out of the race, they could still be in the team," Arun told reporters on the eve of fourth ODI.

Chahal and Yadav scalped 21 wickets in the first three ODIs against South Africa, which India won comfortably. Heaping praise on the wrist spinners, Arun said that the two clearly understand their roles.

"They are extremely positive, not afraid to flight the ball, not afraid to impart extra spin to gain something, and they are not dependent on the wicket. They get a lot out of the air. I think these bowlers have really understood their roles, understood the conditions well and I can only say that they have performed exceptionally well."

He continued saying, "They have troubled the best batsmen in the business back home. And we were extremely confident that they would come here to South Africa and also they would make inroads into their batting."

India have currently leading the six-match series 3-0 and are on the verge of creating history when they face South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday.

As India is at comfortable position in the series, the bowling coach also hinted that players like Jasprit Bumrah will be rested.

"It makes a lot of sense. As we have said earlier, we will rotate the bowlers and keep them nice and fresh. We will take a call after this tour. Within this series, it is too early, let us see how it progresses and then we will take a decision." (ANI)