R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami rested for the first three ODIs as long Test season awaits

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were unavailable for 1st three ODIs due to injuries.

New Delhi: Selectors decision to rest India's star bowlers - R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami - for the first three ODIs came out as a surprise to fans considering their dominance in the Test series against New Zealand.

The series which is to start on October 16, sees the three key bowlers missing out on action as the selectors have chosen to give them a break with India yet to play 11 more Test matches in the 2016-17 home season.

ICC World No. 1, Ashwin and fellow spinner Jadeja run riot in all three tests as New Zealand batsmen failed to find answers to the duo's magical performance. Shami, on the other hand, was the only seamer to feature in all three Tests against New Zealand.

Here are the stats of the trio in the recently concluded 3-match Test series:-

• Ashwin – 10 (1st Test), 4 (2nd Test), 13 (3rd Test) = Total 27
• Jadeja – 6 (1st Test), 4 (2nd Test), 4 (3rd Test) = Total 14
• Shami – 2 (1st Test), 6 (2nd Test), 0 (3rd Test) = Total 8

It remains to be seen whether the selectors include the trio for 4th and 5th match of the ODI series or not.

Suresh Raina, who last played an ODI in October 2015, was recalled to the squad but has been ruled out of the first match because of illness, while Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were unavailable due to injuries.

India's previous ODI series was against Zimbabwe in June where a lot of youngster were given a chance to impress.

It can be said that a lot of them did impress the selectors as apart from captain MS Dhoni, seven players from that squad - Mandeep, Bumrah, Kedar Jadhav, Kulkarni, Manish Pandey, Axar and Jayant - were retained for the first three matches against New Zealand.

Here's the squad for the first three-matches:

MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav