I Think Ravichandran Ashwin Is Definitely Here To Stay: Rohit Sharma On Tamil Nadu Player's White-Ball Presence

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is a trademark when it comes to Test cricket and has dominated the format with 427 wickets from 81 Tests.

Ashwin is India’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket after Kapil Dev (434) and Anil Kumble (619). In the recently concluded New Zealand series at home, he surpassed Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 417 Test wickets.

Ravichandran Ashwin made a comeback in T20I cricket after four years

However, Ashwin wasn’t a regular member of India’s white-ball team for close to four years and his selection in the T20 World Cup squad was a surprise for the entire cricket fraternity.

Although Ashwin was away from white-ball cricket for a very long period, in hindsight of his return to T20 Internationals, the Tamil Nadu spinner performed just like we saw him bowling in his prime days.

Ashwin wasn’t played in the Indian team for the first two T20 World Cup matches against Pakistan and New Zealand. But he came with a bang of six wickets from the remaining three matches of Group 2.

Ashwin continued his bowling prowess in the New Zealand T20I series as he picked three wickets from two matches at an economy rate of 5.25.

Ravichandran Ashwin will give you  flexibility: Rohit Sharma

India’s new white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma feels Ashwin was a great addition and is someone that brings flexibility in the side.

“Ashwin will give you that flexibility, you can use him in the powerplay or the middle over, so having a bowler like that – an all-rounder bowler I’d like to call – who can bowl anytime and anywhere in whatever situation, is always important,” Sharma was quoted as saying while speaking to journalist Boria Majumdar on ‘Backstage with Boria’.

“You don’t want one-dimensional bowlers where you know he can only bowl outside powerplay, he cannot bowl in the death, can only bowl to right-handers, can only bowl to left-handers. The more options you have with bowlers the better, that’s what I felt. I thought he’d be a great addition, and I think he’s here to stay. He’s definitely here to stay,” he added.

Ashwin has picked 61 wickets from 51 T20 International matches at an economy rate of 6.8 and averages 21.28.

Also Read: My Indian Test Bowler Of 2021 Has To Be Ravichandran Ashwin, He Has Been Absolutely Sensational – Aakash Chopra