Uncertainty is certainly looping around India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s limited-overs career. However, he has begun his Ranji Trophy 2017 campaign as BCCI had said that the spin-twin of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were rested for the ODI and T20I series against Australia.
The recent performances of the wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have left a sword of uncertainty overs and Ashwin and Jadeja, especially in in limited-overs formats.
Recently, during an interview with Cricbuzz, Ashwin expressed his confidence of making a comeback in limited-overs cricket. He said, “I know one day the opportunity will come knocking on my door because I haven’t done too much wrong. When I get that opportunity, I’ll probably rise to the occasion.”
India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has also acknowledged that Ashwin and Jadeja will have sufficient opportunities in future to play. Ashwin was inquired that if his absence from the ODI squad was because Kohli now prefers wrist spinners over a finger spinner, he replied, “The day I become a decision maker, I’ll probably be in a better position to answer that question. I enjoy my game and even if I am playing a fifth-division match, I’ll enjoy it a lot. Obviously, I’ll raise my game to the occasion but I definitely love playing the game so I am not missing anything at all.”
In Virat Kohli’s era, it was pretty evident that the team management is preferring to have the fittest players in the team. There is a spreading belief that Virat sees a group of multidimensional players who have to have high fitness standards as part of India’s immediate future. Ashwin reckoned that any system in place needs to be respected and that he has ‘trained pretty madly’ since missing IPL 2017 due to injury.
Despite his bowling prowess, Ashwin’s utility in the current ODI squad is still a doubt. Ashwin has over 2000 runs, four 100s and eleven 50s in the Test format, but the numbers are below-par in ODIs (average of 16.09) for him to qualify as an all-rounder. Describing the same, he said, “I would have loved to bat higher in a one-day game and try to do justice to my potential… but you never know. I have a fair number of years left in me as a cricketer. I never rule anything out and I never take anything for granted.”
Ashwin concluded by talking about his stint for Worcestershire in the English County. He said, “It’s my attitude that landed me there [England]. For me, it’s all about playing cricket. I had been in touch with a few guys in England and they had been asking me (to play county cricket). One such message landed in my inbox one day and I didn’t even know that I wasn’t playing the ODI series (Australia). I just said I would be interested to be there. Eventually, it all worked out, and the club I went to was one of the best clubs there.”
