Former Indian Cricketer R Ashwin. (FILE Photo)
Sunil Gavaskar slammed the Indian team management for dropping R Ashwin in overseas Tests regularly citing team combination and pitch not assisting the spinners. Even in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, the Indian off-spinner has been out of the side for the first Test in Perth and despite bowling well in Adelaide he was dropped for the Brisbane Test at the end of which Ashwin announced his retirement from the game.
“At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew they could not win the game without him. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC’s number one-ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top-ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions?” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
“Cricket being a batters’ game, the fact that he invariably won the Player of the Series award didn’t win him kudos among the batters’ fraternity. Every time there was even a five percent excuse to leave him out of the eleven, it was grabbed avidly with the excuse of team balance,” Gavaskar added.
Ashwin has taken 537 Test wickets, 156 ODI wickets, and 72 T20I wickets. In addition to his skill with the ball, the 38-year-old’s name would occasionally pop up when there were discussions about captaincy.
“Ashwin would have made a fine captain for India, but he was denied even the honor of being the vice-captain. There was an opportunity to give him the belated honor even if it was for a token Test match and a limited-overs bilateral series, but that also was denied to him. That’s why it was so good to see Rohit Sharma ask him to lead the team out on his 100th Test match,” he said.
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