It Is 'Unfortunate' That Ravichandran Ashwin Is Not Part Of India's Limited-Overs Setup, Feels Gautam Gambhir

Former India batsman, Gautam Gambhir opines that Ravichandran Ashwin should be playing limited-overs cricket for India as well.

The off-spinner was dropped from the white-ball team in 2017; he could manage to pick only 1 wicket in the Champions Trophy as India lost the final. Both, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja were replaced by the leg-spin combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the white-ball team.

While Ravindra Jadeja made his comeback and has now become an all-format player, R Ashwin is selected only in the Test team, despite his success in the IPL and rise as an all-rounder in Test cricket.

Ravichandran Ashwin is just a class act: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir too focuses on the point that Ashwin, who was Man of the Match in Chennai against England, has grown his stature as an all-rounder. The former KKR skipper terms it as ‘very unfortunate’ that the Tamil Nadu off-spinner, who was once the premier spinner in the limited-overs team, is now nowhere near the scheme of things as far as white-ball cricket is concerned for India.

“Someone who is coming close to taking 400 wickets and the same time getting five Test hundreds and still not being part of the white-ball scheme of things is very unfortunate. He is just a class act,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.

The 39-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator lavished praises on the smartness of R Ashwin as the off-spinner always tried to introduce changes in bowling style, actions, variations, etc. Gambhir, who shared the dressing room with Ashwin in the 2011 World Cup, speaks of the Delhi Capitals bowler’s consistency for more than a decade now and the impact he has had in Indian cricket.

“He is just a quality bowler and his subtle variations. The amount of cricket he has played and the longevity he has played with and still the kind of impact he has had, it is just unbelievable,” Gautam Gambhir added.

With the T20 World Cup this year in India and the 2023 50-over World Cup also at home, there have been several voices asking for Ashwin’s return in the other two formats- the 34-year-old himself has expressed his desire to don the blue jersey again.

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