The Tamil Nadu cricketer suffered a side strain during the first ODI against South Africa that forced him to miss the remaining four matches. The tourists clinched the series 3-2 for their first bilateral ODI series success on Indian soil in five attempts. They had won the preceding Twenty20 series 2-0 as well.

“Ours is a relatively inexperienced side. We have just a few players who have played 100-odd games. We need to give some cushion and time to this side,” Ashwin said, referring to the ODI series defeat. “They have players like AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis who are very experienced players. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought series. Had the last over in Kanpur gone our away, the result could have been different.”

Ashwin was Man of the Series during India’s last Test series, in Sri Lanka in August, and will spearhead India’s spin dominated attack in the Test series. Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja, who has been making waves in the Ranji series are the other specialist spinners in the squad.

Ashwin predicted that the upcoming Test series would be close. “It will be a close contest. South Africa are an excellent side and they have adapted to the conditions very well. It will be a tough challenge and we will be up for it,” Ashwin said.

“I am not taking away any credit from the (South African) batsmen. But I believe they have been scoring runs on wickets that have aided batting. Bowlers need to be given wickets that are helpful to them. I want to see batsmen scoring runs on wickets that aid bowlers,” he added.