As the captain of India’s National Cricket Team, Rohit Sharma has praised the right-arm off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin for his remarkable display both with the willow and with the ball at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. The Indian spinning department comprised of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ensured a comfortable victory to India by 280 runs against Bangladesh in the first Test played on Sunday. In the recent Chennai Test, Ashwin was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his superb all-round performance (scoring hundred and taking five wickets). The right-hand batsman smashed a total of 113 from 133 balls including 11 fours and 2 sixes in the innings. The off spinner bowled 21 overs and took 6 wickets conceding 88 runs during his spell.
“Now you can talk to him, he will tell you what he is doing. We have always looked up to him; he is always present when we need him either with bat in hand or ball. I don’t know whether it will be right for me to talk about him, anyone who has played with him knows what he means to this team. It’s always nice to see him come out to do the job, and he does the job brilliantly. There is no way he is out of the game. The last professional cricket he played was the IPL and then he had some leisure playing the TNPL. We saw him bat in the top order and that is what really helped him to bat the way he did,” said Rohit in the post-match press conference.
Besides, the seasoned cricketer also made comments on Rishabh Pant, the wicketkeeper-batter who made a comeback to the longest format of the game after a span of two years.
“He has faced challenges no one would imagine. It was impressive to see how he was able to carry on within such difficulties. Again he was back and it was the IPL, then the World Cup which he up to this day enjoys most. For us, there was never the question of what is he going to do with the bat, there’s always an answer to what he had with the bat, and the gloves as well,” said the right-handed batter.
“It was just about giving him the game time. Credit to him as well, he went on to play Duleep Trophy and got ready for this Test match and had an impact straight away in the game. No matter what the conditions are, whether we play in India, or whether we play outside, we want to build the team around that which is a strong bowling unit,” said the opener.
In the second inning, Pant scored 109 runs from 128 balls at a strike rate of 85.16. The 26-year-old hit 13 fours and 4 sixes while batting. His innings ended as he was bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the 56th over of India’s second innings.
