Former
India cricketer turned cricket expert Sanjay Manjrekar has criticised
Ravichandran Ashwin for his below-par performance during India’s just-concluded
ODI series against South Africa. India lost the series 3-0.

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Ravichandran
Ashwin has recently returned to the Indian side in 50-overs cricket after five
years but he failed to impress against South Africa. He barely could make any
impact in the three-match ODI series.

In
the first match, he took one wicket in exchange for 53 runs and scored 7 runs
with the bat. In the next match, he returned wicketless and gave away 68 runs
in his spell. With the bat, he scored 25 not out. Skipper KL Rahul then dropped
him for the final game as he made four changes with hopes of avoiding a
whitewash.

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Manjrekar,
while speaking to ESPNCricinfo following India’s four-run loss in the final ODI
at Cape Town, stated that the inclusion of Ashwin affected India’s chances.

“Ashwin
strangely came back into India’s ODI plans for some reason. India paid a price
for that. He played the two crucial games, did nothing much. (Yuzvendra) Chahal
is also under the scanner. Prasidh Krishna needs to be backed a bit more. Also,
in 50-overs, Mohammed Shami can be a good option.

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“Bowling
wise, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had given signs even before this series that he is
finding it difficult to get back to his best. I guess that issue is closed
after seeing his performance in the series. And Deepak Chahar, the one ball to
get Janneman Malan, should tell selectors that he is a better option,” he
stated.

Manjrekar, meanwhile, talking about India’s series loss termed it “a bad loss”. 

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“The
way the match ended sums up the whole trip for India. It has to be one of the
poorest Indian tours to South Africa. That’s how it was destined to be. It just
wasn’t India’s time in South Africa. It is a bad loss,” he concluded.

Earlier, India lost the three-match Test series 2-1, conceding a 1-0 lead.