The World Cup 2023 is just a week away, and former India batsman Wasim Jaffer has a funny request for off-spinner R Ashwin.
On Thursday, which was the deadline day for all teams to finalize and make changes to their squads, R Ashwin was drafted into India’s 15-man squad, replacing the injured Axar Patel.
The ICC confirmed this news, saying: “Axar Patel has failed to recover in time for the World Cup after sustaining a left quadriceps strain during India’s Asia Cup Super Four encounter against Bangladesh. The spin-bowling all-rounder missed the final of the Asia Cup as a result.”
“Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named his replacement, who was impressive on his return to ODI cricket in the recently concluded series against Australia where he picked up four wickets in two games.”
Jaffer hilariously requests R Ashwin to mankad England captain Jos Buttler
Famously known for Running Jos Buttler out at the non-striker’s end during the IPL 2019, and someone who highly preaches this mode of dismissal which is perfectly in the laws of the game, R Ashwin got a cheeky request from Wasim Jaffer.
Jaffer, who often tweets hilarious stuff and never misses a chance to troll the England team and its players, wished that Ashwin taking plenty of wickets in the World Cup, at both ends. He put a pic from India’s semi-final against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Adelaide, with R Ashwin bowling and Buttler at the non-striker’s end.
“Congratulations on making the WC squad @ashwinravi99 wish you lots of wickets at both ends CWC23,” Jaffer tweeted with a picture of Ashwin and Buttler.
India and England will meet in their first warm-up game on Saturday, September 30, in Guwahati. Their match in the main tournament is slated for October 29, Sunday, in Lucknow. Since Lucknow is a spin-friendly venue, Ashwin is likely to play against England in Lucknow.
On his return to the India ODI team against Australia, after a gap of 18 months, Ashwin bowled superbly: in the matches in Mohali and Indore against Australia, the off-spinner returned with figures of 1/47 and 3/41, which included wickets of David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne (twice), and Josh Inglis. He showcased the array of his variations – including two different variations of carrom ball – to outfox the batters.
