World Cup 2023: 'There's age factor' — Sehwag wants India to rest senior player for match vs Afghanistan

Former India opener Virender Sehwag believes that Team India should rest Ravichandran Ashwin for their upcoming 2023 World Cup clash against Afghanistan. After their win against Australia, India will now take on Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, 11 October. The former India batter said that the Indian management should use Ashwin prudently and he should be rested in order to ensure his freshness for the rest of the tournament. Sehwag also suggested that Mohammed Shami could be considered as a replacement for the senior spinner in the playing XI for the upcoming match. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table Speaking with Cricbuzz, Sehwag said that since the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi is small and the pitch might not offer as much assistance to spinners, India could replace Ashwin with Shami. “I think Ravichandran Ashwin will be rested. Mohammed Shami has been in wonderful form, and he even took a fifer against Australia. This is a different wicket, and the ground is also smaller. Also, there is the age factor with Ashwin. So, India will look to save him for the big matches,” Sehwag said.

Ashwin was drafted into India’s squad for the World Cup after Axar Patel failed to recover from his injury. In India’s opening match of the World Cup against Australia in Chennai on Sunday, Ashwin was quite good as he conceded 34 runs from his full quota of 10 overs and picked up the wicket of Cameron Green. India grabbed a six-wicket win after chasing down the 200-run target against Australia. The bowlers did a stellar job by knocking over Australia for 199, but India faced early jolts as top-order batters Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer were all dismissed for ducks. However, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli steadied the ship and added 165 runs for the fourth wicket and guided India to a comprehensive win.