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R Ashwin leaves Kuldeep Yadav out of his India XI for 1st ODI against New Zealand

Former spinner R Ashwin has revealed his predicted starting lineup for the opening one-day international against New Zealand, setting aside wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav in favor of a heavily batting-focused side featuring three all-rounders. Ashwin selected Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma to open the batting, backed by Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul, while naming Naman Dhir, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Axar Patel as all-round options alongside three fast bowlers led by Arshdeep Singh.

Ashwin expressed surprise that Kuldeep remained unused across all five matches of the preceding T20 series, which India claimed 3-2, questioning the management's hesitation to utilize the specialist bowler.

Ashwin additionally highlighted lingering defensive flaws from the shorter format, pointing out that New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell scored ninety-four percent of his runs on the leg side because Indian bowlers repeatedly failed to adjust their bowling lines over five consecutive matches. The analyst also addressed the management of mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, noting the need to restore his form following an injury layoff that restricted him to a single appearance in the T20 matches.

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