Ravi Ashwin, the India spinner, is set to join the Division Two side Worcestershire for the remainder of the county season with an eye on broadening his experience of conditions before next year’s Test series in England.
The 30-year-old, who is ranked third in the ICC’s Test bowling rankings, has never played domestic cricket in England but is now cleared to participate by his board after being left out of India’s one-day squad for their tour of Sri Lanka.
With the batsman Cheteshwar Pujara also expected to rejoin Nottinghamshire for a second stint as their overseas player following Monday’s completion of a 3-0 win for the Test side, it will mean two leading Indian players at the two counties eyeing promotion to Division One. They would also face each other at Trent Bridge from 5 September.
India had previously said Ashwin was being rested from their one-day team – Pujara is viewed as a Test specialist – but their chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, said tuning up for the Test series in England in 2018 will take priority. “It is a blessing in disguise for both of them because we will have a fully fledged tour of five Tests in England next year,” he said. “It is always good to play and get that first hand feel of the conditions. From a selection point of view they have been rested first and then they have been given consent by the BCCI to go and play county cricket.”
Second-placed Worcestershire, who are 35 points behind Notts, are yet to confirm the Ashwin deal but reports in India suggest it will begin from 28 August at home to Gloucestershire. His 292 wickets and 2,035 runs from 52 Tests place him among the world’s leading all-rounders, with the challenge now being how his off-spin adapts to English pitches.
India comfortably overcame England 4-0 at home before Christmas – Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker with 28 – but have not beaten them away since 2007, when a previous different generation made up the squad that secured a 1-0 victory under the captain Rahul Dravid.
Their current captain, Virat Kohli, has also stated his intention to play county cricket before next summer’s tour after enduring a tough visit to England in 2014 when he averaged 13.4 from 10 innings as MS Dhoni’s side succumbed to a 3-1 Test series defeat.
Despite Kohli’s obvious marketability and cricketing appeal, a number of leading counties have told the Guardian that making a spell worthwhile may be tricky. With the Indian Premier League set once again to overlap with the start of the county summer, his availability will be limited and thus clubs would find themselves having to juggle their one overseas berth.
Whether it works for Kohli also remains in the hands of the schedulers. Both the tour dates and the English domestic calendar for 2018 are yet to be confirmed and with the preference for the latter to be staged in blocks of different formats, the 28-year-old’s intended spell of first-class acclimatisation could yet fall in a period of white-ball cricket.
