After 276 T20 matches, including 178 in the IPL, veteran off-spinning all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin finally raised his maiden half-century in the shortest format of the game when, batting at number 3 for Rajasthan Royals, he played a brilliant knock of 50 runs off 38 balls against his former franchise Delhi Capitals on Wednesday at the DY Patil Stadium.
It has taken him 14 seasons in the IPL and 15 years since making his T20 debut in 2007 to reach this milestone. And it came at a time RR required it because they had lost their best batsman, and the Orange Cap holder of the season, Jos Buttler, as early as in the third over.
Once again promoted up in the order, Ravichandran Ashwin walked in at number 3 and without wasting any time, wanting to maximize the powerplay, took down medium-pacer Shardul Thakur for a couple of fours before walloping spinner Axar Patel for a four and down the ground six.
At the end of the powerplay, Ashwin was 21 from 13 balls and RR 43/1. Delhi, though, managed to tighten things for a while with Jaiswal’s wicket and a few cheap overs. Ashwin broke that rut hammering Kuldeep for his second step-down-the-ground sixer before Padikkal reined into Axar for two maximums.
With a boundary to seamer Chetan Sakariya, Ashwin brought up the 50-run stand and soon, three balls later, notched up his first half-century in the IPL – which took him 72 innings to get there – before getting out to Mitchell Marsh trying to hit another biggie. Ashwin got a round of applause from the RR dugout for his terrific knock.
Netizens on Twitter too hailed the Tamil Nadu cricketer for his admirable knock that helped RR set up a base for their eventual total of 160. Ashwin has been superb with the ball as well in IPL 2022, and now a fifty forced out plenty of memes from the Twitterati.
Here are some of the best Twitter reactions to Ashwin’s maiden IPL fifty:
Albeit unconventional but RR making full use of Ashwin
#RRvDC #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/6RZiAxbeIA
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) May 11, 2022
Well played matchaa. #Ashwin
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 11, 2022
Ashwin in this IPL : #RRvsDC pic.twitter.com/5C4QqFeWRO
— Yash (@Yashrajput027) May 11, 2022
Forget Jos, Ashwin is good enough for this lot.
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 11, 2022
Only thing left for Ashwin to surprise us in IPL is a catch like this. #IPL pic.twitter.com/Szu4Sl7WBR
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) May 11, 2022
Ashwin has scored more runs than jaddu this season
— Bharath (@eabc_02) May 11, 2022
Ashwin averaging and Striking more than Rohit and Virat this season.
— Shivani (@meme_ki_diwani) May 11, 2022
Only thing left for Ashwin to surprise us in IPL is a catch like this. #IPL pic.twitter.com/Szu4Sl7WBR
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) May 11, 2022
Ashwin this season pic.twitter.com/UraWLhv5tm
— Flighted Leggie
(@flighted_leggie) Ashwin na after scoring 50:
Inime neenga enna complete all-round batsman ne koopdalam.. #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/aNgZlLr5Rn
— Foresay sports தமிழ் (@ForesayThamizh) May 11, 2022
Also Read: Rajasthan Royals Posted A Hilarious Meme Featuring Rishabh Pant
