Strength of reserve bench is the key in Freedom series

It's a big tour in India for the Proteas. Experts said Fitness will be the key factor for them specially the different conditions of India can play a key role to the performance of the visiting team. The series has just started as India lost all the three matches that had been played in this series. They already lost the T20 tournament and now today they lost 1st ODI.
Ashwin is out of the squard already as he picked up an injury in his back while trying to stop a ball. He came back later but can't continue just bowled single over in his second spell. The selectors decided to call Harbhajan Singh in the squard. Without Ashwin it's just an ordinary bowling attack for the men in blue.Specially in the death overs they failed to perform. We saw it in the first T20 as well.
Strength of reserve bench is very important. Specially in this kind of series where you have to play for two months in different parts of India. but did India have that strength specially in the bowling department? I don't think India have a good replacement of Ashwin.
Everyone blamed Dhoni (as a batsman) for the last match. I think Dhoni did the right thing with his bat. But not with his captaincy. I don't know why he continued with his part time bowlers when he had Ashwin. Specially when AB was batting. Actually Dhoni allowed AB to set in the crease and that made the difference. Set AB can destroy you no matter who the bowler is.
Actually Dhoni is like that he likes to experiment with his bowlers. We all cheered when he won the T20 world cup. We all know he gave responsibility to Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over, we all surprised to see that but he was successful then. I think he tried to use Ashwin in the death knowing his team doesn't have a good death bowling lineup. It can happen in a captain's mind. But what about the fitness? Indian players are also not very quick in the field like the visiting team. Dhoni also picked an injury while he was batting. India should look after it.