Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has raised concerns about the form of experienced spin-bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. Ashwin has faced difficulties in taking wickets and has grabbed only two wickets in eight matches while conceding over nine runs per over.
Ashwin thinks that getting wickets in T20 games isn’t crucial. But Sehwag disagreed, criticizing Ashwin and suggesting that he might not be selected in the next auction. Sehwag questioned Ashwin’s approach to T20 cricket and pointed out a statement where Ashwin echoed KL Rahul’s controversial comment about strike rates, suggesting that prioritizing wickets in T20s isn’t significant.
The former Indian opener strongly opposed this perspective, emphasizing that bowlers need to be aggressive to take wickets, rather than just focusing on Indian
“This is the same as when KL Rahul had said that the strike rate doesn’t matter. Same thing. He said it for batting, and Ashwin has said it for bowling that it doesn’t matter if you get the wickets. If his stats aren’t good, then he may not even get picked in the auction next year. When you pick a bowler, do you expect him to give away 25-30 runs or do you expect him to give you wickets and become man of the match twice or thrice?” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Sehwag criticized Ashwin’s approach, highlighting that his teammates, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, have been regularly getting wickets.
“All his competitors – Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, or anyone else – are getting the wickets. He thinks if he bowls off spin then anyone will hit him. This is why he bowls his carrom bowl, which is why he is not getting any wickets. Maybe if he believes in his off-spin or doosra, he can bag more wickets. But that’s his mindset. But if I were a mentor or a coach of a franchise, I wouldn’t think like that. If my bowler is thinking about saving runs and not taking wickets, he won’t find a place in the team,” he added.
