The legendary Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan believes that India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has excelled in Test cricket, but that it will be difficult for him to crack the playing XI for India in T20 cricket due to the quality and depth of Indian cricket’s white ball eco-system.
Despite being a top Test bowler, Ashwin has struggled in white ball cricket after spending more than three years away from shorter formats. Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal are also part of the spin attack that Ashwin is competing for a spot in the Indian playing XI.
Muralitharan statement
According to the report of India Today “There are too many quality options in the Indian cricket system. There is very stiff competition among the top Indian spinners in white ball cricket,” Murali was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.
“In red-ball cricket, there isn’t much competition as Ashwin is on top. He is peerless. The moment we turn to T20, because of IPL (Indian Premier League), we get to see too many talented options as there are so many matches being played. That certainly speaks about the depth of Indian cricket. “So when you get an option to compare his exploits with others and the opportunities to play T20Is get shared.”
“You can’t bowl just carrom balls. You have to mix it up. Even during our times, we used floaters with conventional off breaks. You can’t bowl the same ball repeatedly as batters tend to read you well. To stay on top, you need to have enough variations in your bowling.”
“Never believe this concept that an off-spinner will only be effective when a left-handed batter is in operation. That’s not the kind of mindset you should have when you go out there. Even if there is a right-hander batting, you should have the skills to get him out. The skipper should also show a lot of belief that his off-spinner could do the job.”
“Spinners will always remain special bowlers in T20 cricket. All these T20 leagues won’t be what they are if there were no quality spinners in each team. Finger spinners, if you mean off-spinners, will never go out of fashion in T20 cricket.”
“I won’t say a good off-spinner would always need a good captain. A captain has to think about all 11 players, including him, but the primary requisite of an off-spinner will always be talent.”
