In the past 5 years, under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Ravichandran Ashwin has found himself out of the limited-overs team and Ravindra Jadeja was preferred over him, more often than, in away Test series. Ashwin, who is one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game, was suddenly labelled only as a Test specialist after Virat Kohli became India’s captain in white-ball cricket and he was removed from the shorter formats in a way which looked disrespectful to many Indian cricket fans.
But, now that Rohit Sharma has taken captaincy from Virat Kohli in white0ball cricket, we are expecting things to change and Sharma has already given a hint of things to come as far Ravichandran Ashwin is concerned.
Rohit recently appreciated on ‘Backstage with Boria’ and spoke extensively on the debate surrounding Ravichandran Ashwin and said that “he is definitely here to stay”.
While talking to Boria Majumdar, the newly appointed Indian captain said that Ashwin’s presence in the team gives flexibility to the captain as he can bowl in any phase of the innings. Talking about his batting skills, Sharma also added that he is an all-rounder, who can bowl at any time and anywhere.
“Ravichandran 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’.
Rohit Sharma emphasised on the point that Ravichandran Ashwin is a multi-dimensional bowler who allows captain to use him in any stage of the innings.
“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,” Rohit stated.
Stamping his authority as India’s new white-ball captain, Rohit Sharma said that Ravichandran Ashwin is a great addition and he is definitely here to stay.
“I thought he’d be a great addition, and I think he’s here to stay. He’s definitely here to stay,” Sharma added.
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