'We played musical chairs with the openers': R Ashwin lashes out at Indian team management after embarrassing 4-0 loss to England

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'We played musical chairs with the openers': R Ashwin lashes out at Indian team management after embarrassing 4-0 loss to England originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:​

• R Ashwin criticised India for rotating openers Samson and Sooryavanshi during series.
• England backed struggling Jos Buttler, who repaid faith with a career-best century.
• R Ashwin doubts Sooryavanshi will feature in all Zimbabwe T20Is either.

R Ashwin slams India's 'musical chairs' approach to openers after series whitewash​

R Ashwin didn't hold back while assessing India's chaotic handling of their opening combination during the recently concluded T20I series against England, accusing the team management of constantly shuffling between Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi rather than showing faith in either player.

India began the series with Samson opening the innings, but the wicketkeeper-batter managed just one run off seven deliveries in the rain-curtailed opening match.

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He was subsequently dropped, making way for 15-year-old debutant Sooryavanshi in the second T20I. The teenager went on to score 14, 13 and 15 across his three outings before Samson was recalled for the final match of the series.

Ashwin compared with how England handled their own out-of-form batter, Jos Buttler, who continued struggling for large stretches of the series but was never dropped.

That patience eventually paid off spectacularly, with Buttler smashing a career-best 131 off 64 balls in the fifth and final match. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin said: "England backed Jos Buttler despite his poor form, and we played musical chairs with the openers. The one who sits on the chair when the song stops goes to open.

"But they did not do the same. They let Jos Buttler play every game, and he scored a hundred in the last match."The one who scored runs for us at the T20 World Cup, we played musical chairs with him, and he scored 27 runs. The one who was supposed to hit a century scored 27 runs."

MORE: Has India ever lost back-to-back T20I series?

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Ashwin questions India's impatience​

When asked whether Sooryavanshi could feature across all three matches in India's upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe, where Samson has been rested and uncapped player Prabhsimran Singh has earned a maiden call-up, Ashwin was equally blunt in his response.

"We cannot give that guarantee to anyone," he said. "There is no point in talking in hindsight. I can 100 per cent say that players won't play every game. Anyone can play. That has been the trend, which is not great."

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The Bigger Picture: Ashwin has hit the nail on the head​

Ashwin's criticism strikes at a genuine structural issue rather than just reacting to poor results. There's a difference between backing a player through a rough patch and repeatedly benching someone after one or two failures.

However, India's constant reshuffling seems to fall firmly into the latter category. England's patience with Buttler, though risky in the short term, ultimately paid dividends because it gave a proven performer room to rediscover his rhythm.

If India genuinely wants long-term stability at the top of the order, whether with Samson, Sooryavanshi, or anyone else, selectors need to commit to a player through inevitable dips in form rather than treating every failure as grounds for immediate exclusion.

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