Big allegation! Ravichandran Ashwin claims Riyan Parag doesn’t trust Ravindra Jadeja
Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was baffled by Riyan Parag's choice of not handing Ravindra Jadeja a chance to finish his spell despite his possible brilliance in the first three overs of his spell. He has also accused Parag of poor captaincy, as he trusted statistics more than his players.
Rajasthan Royals had an unbeaten streak to start the IPL 2026; however, Riyan Parag's dubious captaincy has seemingly landed them in a fix, as the team has now faced two consecutive defeats. However, there remained one common factor across the two games, that Parag mishandled veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, limiting his role with the ball.
In the last two games, Jadeja was not given the ball against left-handers, considering the usual notion that they are thrashed for big sixes. However, not bowling Jadeja his full quota of overs in the last game has left former RR spinner Ravichandran Ashwin baffled, and he has turned to hurting Parag with his relentless rants.
Ravichandran Ashwin fails to find reason behind Riyan Parag's Ravindra Jadeja call vs KKR
The Rajasthan Royals side was once looking invincible with their top order firing in every match; however, their campaign has taken a jolt with two consecutive defeats. They became the first team to lose against KKR, a team that was winless after their first six games in this season.
Ravichandran Ashwin took no credit away from Rinku Singh or Anukul Roy for how they managed to chase the total, but he has accused Riyan Parag of not having faith in his bowlers, which will compromise their morale in the long run.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin claimed that having a senior bowler like Jadeja in the side and, despite that, not making use of his final over, was a decision that never made sense to him.
The former CSK star said, "You have a world-class left-arm spinner. Sure, numbers and data can tell you something, but he has conceded only 9 or 11 runs in three overs and taken two wickets.
"When Rinku Singh tried to hit, he was so close to getting out, but you thought, 'I am an off-spinner; I can put pressure on these two left-handers, but Jaddu won't be able to.' Though Ravi Bishnoi can, you felt Jaddu won't be able to. I am telling you, this is the mindset."
"It is possible that Jaddu bowls and the batter hits two sixes, but by not bowling him, you are not showing trust in your bowling unit in the long term," Ashwin added, lambasting the RR skipper.
"If Ravindra Jadeja had taken that wicket of Rinku Singh....," Ashwin extends his support to his former teammate
Ravichandran Ashwin, who has always believed in statistics, did not reason that statistics should be discouraged, and Riyan Parag was right to consider bowling an off-spinner against left-handers; however, taking that away from Jadeja never seemed right.
"If a left-arm spinner knows he isn't wanted against a left-hander, he won't even try. As a captain or team management, if you are telling him, 'This is not your job,' look at what happens to the ball," claimed Ravichandran Ashwin.
Leg-spinners also do not possess great form against left-handers, but Parag used Ravi Bishnoi, while Jadeja, who bowled a spectacular spell of 2/8 in his three overs, was not used. What seemed more foolish was that he had already trapped Rinku Singh on a former occasion, only to witness Nandre Burger dropping a simple catch.
Ravichandran Ashwin continued, "You won four out of five games, and in this party, if Ravindra Jadeja had taken that wicket of Rinku Singh, he would have been the Man of the Match today. If he becomes the Man of the Match, the Rajasthan Royals become a solid 7-8 player team; the way your team looks then is so good."
Ashwin calls out to Riyan Parag for picking inexperienced Brijesh Sharma over Ravindra Jadeja
He further claimed that such discrimination is mostly seen against bowlers and not against batters, who are not compromised due to poor form. He cited the examples of players like Nicholas Pooran or Rishabh Pant.
"It is possible that you can lose, but understand that you should lose with one of your better bowlers having bowled. Does it ever happen that you don't send Mitchell Marsh to bat? You don't send Rishabh Pant? You don't send Nicholas Pooran? That never happens," he claimed.
He then further added that despite Brijesh Sharma being inexperienced, Parag handed him two crucial overs, the 18th and the 20th, witnessing that even Jofra Archer was taken for runs by Rinku and Anukul. He would have made the switch to Jadeja, highlighting his experience with the ball.
"So, what I am saying is that if you can take Brijesh Sharma, who has no experience in the IPL, and give him the 18th and 20th overs in his first game, you can definitely give them to Jadeja. You can give them to Bishnoi, but you can also give them to Jadeja," said Ravichandran Ashwin.
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Subhomoy Datta is an author at Cricketaddictor, and he has been working at this website since June 2...
