New Delhi: Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has rebuked the Indian team management over dropping Ravichandran Ashwin during overseas Test series on regular basis. This comes after the spin-bowling all-rounder recently announced his retirement from all formats of international cricket in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Ashwin’s sudden decision to call time on a 14-year long career with the national team has sparked innumerable speculation theories with some suggesting the player wasn’t happy on being benched. Ashwin wasn’t part of the playing XI in the first Test in Perth as India preferred youngster Washington Sundar as the lone spinner in the team.
The senior man played in pink-ball Test match in Adelaide where he made 29 runs with the bat across both innings and picked just one wicket of Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh. It turned out to be his last wicket in the traditional format after he was once again benched in the Brisbane Test.
Gavaskar asked the Indian team management why there were different standards for Ashwin citing wickets and conditions and why wasn’t the same prerequisite for other Indian batters.
“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 recent column for Mid-Day.
Ashwin bowed out with 537 Test dismissals with the red cherry from 106 Tests at an average of 24. He is currently the seventh highest wicket-taker in the format around the globe, and second from India only behind Anil Kumble (619). Among the spinners he has the fourth most scalps with the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and late Shane Warne (708).
Comments are closed.