'As of now....': Rahul Dravid on whether R Ashwin will be part of India's CWC '23 squad

Despite losing the third and final ODI, on Wednesday (September 27),India had a lot of positives coming out from their just-concluded three ODIs versus Australia at home. In their last series prior to the CWC 2023 edition, which starts on October 05, India tested their benched players once again and also gave two games to R Ashwin, who returned to the ODI setup after a long gap -- having played his last in early 2022 -- with Axar Patel being injured during the Asia Cup.

Ashwin replaced Axar -- who is dealing witha left quadriceps strain -- and played the opening two encounters to account for four wickets. He looked in good rhythmbut suspense persists regarding his World Cup spot as no official update has come on Axar's fitness. All teams have to announce their final 15 prior to September 28 and any changes after that date would needapproval from the ICC. With suspense continuing on Ashwin's place, head coach Rahul Dravid revealed there are 'no changes' as of now on the final 15, which was announced early this month.

“We have to wait for an official confirmation or a decision on that. The NCA is in touch with the selectors and Ajit (Agarkar) so I will not make any comments on that. If there is any change you will get to hear about it officially, as of now there are no changes,"Dravid said in a press conference after the India-Australia ODIs on Wednesday.

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After the Rajkot ODI, Dravid stated that he is 'really happy' with how things have shaped up for Team India with regard to their CWC 2023 preparations. "Jasprit got a couple of games, and bowled his quota of 10 overs. Siraj suffered from a bug but got back and was able to bowl today. It was good to see how Ashwin bowled in the first two games. KL and his keeping through 50 overs, returning after 6 months, has been great. Shreyas has got some good knocks in the last couple of games. Really happy with how things are going and hopefully we can keep the momentum going into the World Cup."

Dravid added, "There are always areas you want to improve on, and we have ticked a lot of boxes. It's nice to see that the guys who have been out with injury, been away from a while, from our perspective, they've been able to get some good cricket, been able to spend time in the middle, get some runs, take some wickets, but there are always little things that you can improve."

"It's going to be a long, tough tournament. We're constantly looking to improve as a team, even when we have results going our way."

India have reached Guwahati on Thursday evening (September 28), with Ashwin in the squad, for the two warm-up games -- on September 30 (versus England) and October 03 (versus the Netherlands in Trivandrum).

The final 15 players are set to be announced by the BCCI on Thursday evening.

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