India are currently taking on Australia in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Adelaide Oval. India are looking to carry on their momentum after winning the first Test at Perth. They have made certain changes to their playing XI, and one of the major changes was that veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came in to the playing XI instead of Washington Sundar. After the play on Day of the 2nd Test, Indi assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has explained why Ashwin made his way into the playing XI for the pink-ball Test.

In the press conference after play on Day 1, New Zealand, Ryan ten Doeschate said that Ravichandran Ashwin was more likely to get wickets in the Adelaide Oval conditons and hence they went in with the veteran off-spinner. He also said that it was difficult to leave out ashington Sundar given his back-to-back good performances since making his return in the series vs New Zealand.

"Since he came to the fold, sort of halfway through that New Zealand series, he hasn't put a foot wrong. I guess going into the last test, we wanted to strengthen the batting and given what we saw of Nitish in the first test, we kind of thought we could go with what we perceived to be the guys bowling the best spin at the moment, and we feel Ash (Ashwin) is more likely to get wickets on these conditions," ten Doeschate.

"When you get the confidence of Nitish batting at seven, it doesn't really matter with Ash batting at eight, and that was the thinking. There is not much to choose between them, and we just thought that Ash would be slightly more effective on this wicket," he added.

Ravichandran Ashwin has not had the best of starts with the ball in the second Test vs Australia. He has given away 27 runs in 9 overs till tea on Day 2, with Travi Head in particular smacking him for a couple of sixes. He has however, picked up the wicket of Mitchell Marsh.

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