Former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar has always been pretty critical of R Ashwin and he has come hard on the spinner again. The former India batter has often been critical of Ashwin’s performances in SENA countries), and following India’s recent forgettable outing in South Africa, he shared his thoughts on the senior off-spinner’s output.

R Ashwin made a comeback to the ODI squad after a gap of five years against the Proteas but failed to make an impact in the first couple of matches at the Boland Park in Paarl. In the first match, he returned with the figures of 1/53 and scored 7 runs with the bat. In the next match, he returned wicketless and ended up conceding 68 runs in his spell. With the bat, he scored an unbeaten 25. Skipper KL Rahul then dropped him for the final game as he made four changes with hopes of avoiding a whitewash.

ALSO READ: Graeme Smith Thanks BCCI For Completing Uncertain South African Tour

Sanjay Manjrekar, during a recent chat on ESPNCricinfo following India’s four-run loss in the final ODI, stated that Ashwin’s place hurt the team.

Explaining the same, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “Ashwin strangely came back into India’s ODI plans for some reason. India paid a price for that. He played the two crucial games, did nothing much. (Yuzvendra) Chahal also under the scanner. Prasidh Krishna needs to be backed a bit more. Also, in 50-overs, Mohammed Shami can be a good option.”

He further elaborated, “Bowling wise, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had given signs even before this series that he is finding it difficult to get back to his best. I guess that issue is closed after seeing his performance in the series. And Deepak Chahar, the one ball to get Janneman Malan, should tell selectors that he is a better option.”

And finally, talking about the series loss and the tour of South Africa in general, Sanjay Manjrekar termed it as “a bad loss”.

ALSO READ: Team India Receives Fine Of 40% Match Fees For Slow Over-rate

Commenting on India’s series whitewash in the rainbow nation, Sanjay Manjrekar said, “The way the match ended sums up the whole trip for India. It has to be one of the poorest Indian tours to South Africa. That’s how it was destined to be. It just wasn’t India’s time in South Africa. It is a bad loss.”