Former India player Gautam Gambhir has said that Ravichandran Ashwin’s impact as an all-rounder in the Indian team is comparable to that of former India skipper Kapil Dev. Ashwin has so far smashed 61 runs in India’s first innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka and then he claimed a haul of six wickets. The veteran off-spinner also surpassed Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 Test wickets in the process as well.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir was asked if R Ashwin has been second only to the legend, Kapil Dev for Team India. To which he responded: “Probably not second. I think parallel to Kapil Dev because of the sort of impact Ravichandran Ashwin has had.”
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Gautam Gambhir observed: “He has scored five Test hundreds although I don’t want to go with stats, they can be very very misleading.”
However, R Ashwin has hit 2905 runs at an average of 27.14 in the 85 Tests whereas Kapil Dev had scored 5248 runs at an average of 31.05 in the 131 Tests, including eight centuries. Gautam Gambhir has also applauded R Ashwin’s spell in the Melbourne Test of India’s last tour of Australia.
He said: “Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell in Melbourne, I have said this openly and I will say it again – that is the best spell I have seen in my entire career by an off-spinner across decades, across generations. It was a spell on the first day when he got Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade out.”
Gautam Gambhir concluded: “The way Ashwin bowled on the first day, I don’t think any other off-spinner has created such an impact in Australian conditions and that too with the Kookaburra ball. If you ask any finger spinner, they would have hated playing with the Kookaburra ball because neither does it have that seam nor does it get that much bounce.”
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Meanwhile, Nikhil Chopra also wants Ravichandran Ashwin to overtake Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 Test wickets. Feeling that Anil Kumble would love to have a spinner surpass him, Chopra said on the Khelneeti podcast on YouTube: “I hope that R Ashwin breaks Kumble’s record, because Kumble would be wishing that a spinner breaks his record. Just like Kumble, Ashwin has developed a reputation to win matches for the team at home. He started his career as an off-spinner, but now he has so many variations to set the batter up.”
Chopra added: “Another thing is that if Ashwin keeps on performing like this and taking wickets, it will be good for Indian cricket. It will be good for Ravindra Jadeja as well, these two hunt in pairs. Just like Kumble-Harbhajan was a dangerous pair, Ashwin-Jadeja is also a formidable pair.”
“Jadeja is an exceptional player. If you look at his batting post-2018, he is averaging over 60, which shows his ability to bat with the tail with responsibility. He is anyway a magician with the ball, the batter has very little chance while facing him. No loose deliveries, keeps the pressure constantly on. This Test was totally for Ravindra Jadeja,” Chopra concluded.
