Following India’s thumping win over Sri Lanka in the Bangalore Test, with which they take the series 2-0, India captain Rohit Sharma reiterated his opinion that Ravichandran Ashwin is an “all-time great”.
Rohit had hailed Ashwin as an “all-time great” after India won the Mohali Test, in which Ashwin went past the legendary Kapil Dev in terms of Test wickets. This massive recognition by the skipper had Ashwin speechless.
On Monday again, as Ashwin surpassed South African legend Dale Steyn, Sharma once again said that Ashwin belongs to the elite group. He hailed Ashwin’s quality of putting up match-winning performances consistently for years.
“Honestly, that was my feeling (labelling Ashwin an ‘all time great’). Whenever we give him the ball, he seems to do something for the team and that’s been happening over the years, not just a couple of series or few years – we have seen him putting up match-winning performances every game that he plays. So in my eyes, definitely, he’s an all-time great,” Rohit said in the post-match ceremony.
The skipper hopes that the 35-year-old spinner continues to play for more years and win games for his country.
“But again he’s got a lot of years in him- that’s what he says. So, yeah, we have a lot of occasions to look forward to, so I just want to make sure that he’s in a good space,” the opener added.
You can watch the video here:
Words of praise from #TeamIndia Captain @ImRo45 for the champion bowler @ashwinravi99 ? ?#INDvSL | @Paytm pic.twitter.com/SKySkSMj13
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 14, 2022
Ravi Ashwin does belong to an elite category: with 12 wickets in this series against Sri Lanka, Ashwin became the 8th highest Test wicket-taker with 442 scalps to his name; among Indians, only Anil Kumble with a tally of 619 wickets is ahead of Ashwin.
Although Ashwin wasn’t much interested in focusing personal records: “I am not giving it a thought as to what I need to accomplish in a game. It has become more about how I build up into a series,” the off-spinner said when asked of his thoughts of surpassing Steyn.
India sweep aside another home series. Their next challenge is the solitary Test in England, which is the fifth Test of the unfinished series from last year. It remains fascinating to see if Ashwin will play that Test considering he was benched for all the four Tests in England last year as India opted to play with four seamers and Jadeja.
