The veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has found a way of keeping himself match-ready for the inaugural World Test Championship match against West Indies by playing in English County Championship for Nottinghamshire. The announcement of the same was made by the club announced on May 23 (Thursday).
Ashwin will be replaced as an overseas player from Australia’s James Pattinson at the end of June and is expected to feature in six of the final seven red-ball matches for the team. This will be Ashwin’s second stint in English County, having played four games for Worcestershire during the 2017 season in which he ended up scalping 20 wickets and also scored 214 runs.
BREAKING | @ashwinravi99 signs for Nottinghamshire.
Find out more ▶️ https://t.co/PnJGlcd2zk
Watch him in action ▶️ https://t.co/WQXb4hiaN4 pic.twitter.com/yJmmBIdWeH
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) May 23, 2019
As per the quotes in the club’s website, Ashwin said, “I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories. I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started.”
Ashwin will play his first match against Essex on Sunday 30 June, followed by matches against Somerset and Surrey. He will be missing the game against Yorkshire because of India’s tour of the West Indies but is expected to be back for three more games.
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Talking about the same, Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket, Mick Newell said, “We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler. Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options. As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition.”
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Ashwin’s Indian teammate Ajinkya Rahane has already joined Hampshire and scored a century on his debut. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara, who has signed a three year deal with Yorkshire, is soon expected to fly to England considering the Saurashtra Premier League concluded on Wednesday.
