R Ashwin expresses his disappointment over exclusion with a smiley

Ravichandran Ashwin has been yet again ignored for the three-match T20I series against New Zealand starting from November 1. The selectors announced the Test squad for the Sri Lanka series as well and included the off-spinner along with Ravindra Jadeja. But the duo has been continuously kept out of the limited overs side and it is being believed that the team is now looking up to them as red-ball specialists. However, Ashwin took to social media and expressed his disappointment in a unique way.

The 31-year-old last donned the Indian jersey during the tour of West Indies in June earlier this year. He was struggling in the limited overs format and was first kept out of the side for the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka tour citing that he was ‘rested’ ahead of the home season. But the sensational performances from the spin twins in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal has kept him out of the side. Rather the name is not being discussed either now during the squad announcements of the limited-overs formats.

Ravichandran Ashwin, soon after the squads were picked for the subsequent series’ against the Kiwis and the island nation took to social media website Twitter. It was tough to understand the meaning of his tweet as he posted only a smiley which meant ‘Namaste’. He could either be thanking selectors for picking him in the Test team or he could be feeling helpless for his continued exclusion from the team.

Here’s the witty tweet from the off-spinner:

?

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 23, 2017

Siraj earns his maiden national call-up

However, the T20I squad saw a couple of surprising names which very few had expected. Shreyas Iyer and Mohammad Siraj earned their maiden T20Is call-ups following decent performances in the domestic cricket. The latter has impressed especially in the IPL and has been rewarded for his exceptional control of slow balls and yorkers. Even Iyer has been in superb nick in all the formats of the game and the chief selector MSK Prasad insisted on both the cricketers being given an extended rope across formats.