World Cup 2023: Ashwin could be the right replacement for the injured Hardik

With Hardik Pandya certain to miss the New Zealand game in Dharamsala on Sunday, the team management is already in a huddle to pick the right replacement.

Some are for Surya Kumar Yadav at No.6, while others looking at R Ashwin for his double-role as a bowling all-rounder that will ensure the sixth bowling option for the team in case of any unavoidable circumstances. Not to forget that Ashwin is in the team because of Rahul Dravid and hopefully he won't mind playing him in Dharamsala or anywhere else where the opportunity arises.

Therefore, Indian team management has several options to rearrange the team combination. The Indian team has the option of playing only five bowlers along with Mohd Shami and Shardul Thakur.

The second option is to play Surya in place of Hardik with a five-bowler option. The third one is to play Ashwin and go ahead with the option of six bowlers in a small ground. With a batsman like Ravindra Jadeja yet to be tested in the World Cup, the Indians may be tempted to play six bowlers instead of an extra batsman in place of Hardik and with a reliable Ashwin at No.8.

But clearly, the team combination has gone for a toss after BCCI announced Hardik was not playing the New Zealand game. The lanky Baroda all-rounder is an important part of the team.

Ideally, India should go ahead with Ashwin and that is the logical conclusion to this selection conundrum. The fact that Ashwin is taken into the team with so much fanfare, it won't be nice to treat him only with a Chennai game against Australia.

The Tamil Nadu off-spin is almost about to enter the 500th Test match wicket club and undermining him by not playing him will be a mistake. That is because Ashwin's batting isn't that bad. His batting is not as good as Hardik's but it has some level of competence attached to it.

And bowling wise, Ashwin still has the guile to make an impact in an ODI game. Hope, the India team takes the right call for the most all-important game of the league stage against New Zealand.