India vs Australia: 'Welcome back to White Ball cricket, Ash', Netizens celebrate R Ashwin's inclusion in series

Ravichandran Ashwin was brought back into the ODI mix with a little over two weeks to go for the ICC World Cup as India announced their squads for the three-match ODI series against Australia.

India captain Rohit Sharma and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar announced the squads a day after the Men in Blue won their eighth Asia Cup title with a thumping victory over Sri Lanka in the final.

Read | Ashwin returns; Rohit among seniors rested for first two matches

Ashwin and fellow Tamil Nadu off-spinner Washington Sundar were included for all three ODIs. The selectors, however, chose to rest Rohit as well as other senior players such as Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav for the first two games, for which KL Rahul has been named captain.

The four senior players then return to action in the third one-dayer, which will be their final game before the World Cup gets underway on 5 October.

Ashwin, who is indispensable to the Indian team as far as the Test format is concerned last played an ODI in January 2022 and his last white-ball appearance for India was in last year’s T20 World Cup.

Monday’s announcement, naturally, was cause for celebration for Ashwin fans. We take a look at select reactions on microblogging platform ‘X’.

Ashwin back in the ODI setup.
Lots of players rested for 1st 2 ODI’s.
Should be an interesting next couple of weeks as to who makes the final WC 15, but first it’s the Australian challenge! #Indiasquad

— Abhinav Mukund (@mukundabhinav) September 18, 2023

@ashwinravi99 in squad for series v Aus. Team management shrewdly kept this plan under wraps all the while. I’ve long maintained Ashwin’s superb skills & mastery in Indian conditions make him hugely valuable. Should be in WC unless he has a truly rotten series against Aussies

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) September 18, 2023

Ravichandran Ashwin. Vs Australia. World Cup year.