Ashwin will play more limited-overs matches, says India’s white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma: The recently appointed India’s limited-overs captain Rohit Sharma reckons that Ravichandran Ashwin has a bright future ahead in India’s white-ball squad. He opined that having a bowler of Ashwin’s calibre gives the captain a sense of flexibility.
Rohit Sharma recently took over India’s white-ball leadership (T20Is and ODI) from Virat Kohli. The BCCI didn’t want two separate skippers for two very similar formats and hence axed Kohli from his ODI captaincy roles.
The 35-years old veteran spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, made his limited-overs comeback in the recent ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He played his last T20I match in 2018 but was drafted back to the squad for the World Cup 2021.
In his recent conversation with Boria Majumdar, Rohit Sharma weighted on the importance of having an all-rounder bowler whose bowling is not affected by any parameters. Ravi Ashwin can bowl in powerplays, in middle overs and in deaths as well.
“Ashwin will give you that flexibility, you can use him in the powerplay or the middle over, so having a bowler like that – an all-rounder bowler I’d like to call – who can bowl anytime and anywhere in whatever situation, is always important,” Sharma was quoted as saying while speaking to journalist Boria Majumdar on ‘Backstage with Boria’.
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“You don’t want one-dimensional bowlers where you know he can only bowl outside powerplay, he cannot bowl in the death, can only bowl to right-handers, can only bowl to left-handers. The more options you have with bowlers the better, that’s what I felt,” he stated.
Rohit further asserted that Ashwin will become a regular face in India’s white-ball games.
“I thought he’d be a great addition, and I think he’s here to stay. He’s definitely here to stay,” added Rohit Sharma.
The Indian selectors gave Ashwin a chance in T20Is recently, but it would be interesting to see if he gets named in the Indian squad of the upcoming ODI series against South Africa.
As far as his ODI stats are concerned, Ashwin has scalped 150 in 109 innings in One Day Internationals. He bowls with a sharp economy of 4.92 and has an average of 32.91.
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