Team India’s veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that England opener Zak Crawley has the potential to achieve huge success in international cricket. Ashwin also shared his surprise over Crawley not being a regular member in England’s white-ball team. However, he seemed quite optimistic about the star batter’s future.
Ashwin said about Crawley on his YouTube channel: “I feel Zak Crawley, for the potential and talent he has, will go on to become one of the finest batters for England. If he doesn’t, I don’t know where and how to quantify that. Phenomenal cricketer. It is surprising that he still hasn’t gotten a permanent place in white-ball cricket with the England team, but it’s only a matter of time.”
Meanwhile, he did well in the recently concluded five-match Test series against India. With 407 runs in 10 innings, he was England’s leading run-scorer in the series in India. However, the right-handed batter came under the scanner for being unable to convert his starts into big scores as well. However, Ravichandran Ashwin also opined on how batters like Joe Root and Ollie Pope altered their game to suit the England team’s Bazball approach during the India Test series as well.
“Many people wonder whether players like Joe Root and Ollie Pope have changed their games based on what the management says. But unless a player likes the strategy and fully buys in, nobody can tell a player how he has to play. It’s not under-10 or under-12 matches where you teach the players and guide them. These are professional, mature cricketers who have played for so many years and know how to play based on conditions,” he stated.
“Day 3 morning first over or Day 2 post-break, takes us by surprise by hitting a reverse scoop six over third man. This is not something new. It worked for him in England. As someone who applauded in those times, I was a little disappointed when he got out when Jasprit Bumrah put in a normal outswinger, and it took an outside edge to the slips. The question from many was: Does Joe Root have to do this? But he seemed to have reconciled from then on, and in the next matches, he did what he is best at: played good defence. The result of this was phenomenal,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.
