Veteran Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed the critics of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid for doubting them following India’s loss to West Indies in the second ODI. According to Ashwin, people are bashing the captain and coach without any reason. However, Rohit and Dravid received a lot of backlashes after both Rohit and Virat Kohli were rested for the second ODI against West Indies in Barbados and they lost the game by six wickets.
“India lost the second ODI, and immediately the trend in social media was – why so-and-so players played and why so-and-so players did not play. I seriously don’t understand why this outrage. Rohit and Virat didn’t play in the second ODI. Even in the first match, Rohit batted lower down the order. So the debate was around whether Rohit and Virat should have played,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“Some of them were perplexed at how we lost to a team that didn’t even qualify for the World Cup. Many people think that India’s only job in international cricket is to win World Cup. The main reason why we consider ourselves favorites to win the World Cup is because of the IPL,” he further added.
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While discussing Team India’s injury woes, Ravichandran Ashwin added that the visitors played the first two ODIs within 24 hours, which is another reason why they failed and rest is important.
He explained: “ODI matches are very stressful. It will take at least two days for your body to recover. The first two matches in West Indies were played in a gap of 24 hours. Thus, there are more chances of you getting injured. Already we have so many players recovering at the NCA. Bumrah is back after a long hiatus. Prasidh Krishna is back too. So, we have so many injury problems. It seems like people are finding points to blame Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma just for the sake of it.”
“They are trying different players now because they know what they went through during the last T20 World Cup. We didn’t have Ravindra Jadeja and Bumrah, and we didn’t have many fast bowlers. That’s why we are trying different options before the ODI World Cup,” Ravichandran Ashwin backed Dravid and Rohit.
However, India rested Kohli and Rohit for the third ODI as well but they won the game by 200 runs. In the second ODI against West Indies, all-rounder Axar Patel came to bat at No. 4. While many slammed this move, Ashwin found nothing wrong with the move as well.
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“Some of them asked why Axar Patel batted at No. 4. Where else will he bat? Shreyas Iyer will walk into the No. 4 spot when fit. We need a left-hander since Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill will be opening the batting. If we play on slightly spinning wickets and if Axar bats a No. 4, we can extend our batting and play an extra bowler like Shardul,” he opined.“We don’t know what the team management is thinking. Therefore, we can’t criticize them, saying their thought process is wrong,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.
