Michael Vaughan exposes youngsters' plan to damage 'irrelevant' Ravichandran Ashwin in IPL 2025

CSK offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin is not having a great IPL 2025 so far. Having returned to the franchise where he started several years ago, Ashwin has struggled to make an impact so far and has taken just three wickets and conceded runs at an economy rate of 9.90.

His poor returns have prompted the former England captain Michael Vaughan to make a huge claim that the youngsters do not fear Ashwin anymore. Vaughan spoke about the change of mentality for batters as they aim to attack Ravichandran Ashwin rather than trying to play him out.

Vaughan hailed this mentality and feels that the youngsters nowadays are just looking at the ball rather than concentrating on the bowler's reputation. The mentality has proved to be fruitful as a no. of reputed bowlers have been taken to the cleaners in the IPL so far.

Also read: MS Dhoni’s finishing ability questioned as Virender Sehwag exposes CSK’s 5-year failure in big chases

Michael Vaughan reflects on Ravichandran Ashwin's poor IPL 2025

During a conversation on Cricbuzz, Michael Vaughan shared his thoughts on Ravichandran Ashwin's below-par performance in IPL 2025 so far. He feels that the time has gone when the batters didn't take many risks against world-class bowlers like Ashwin.

"I guess a few years ago they probably showed him a lot of respect and in team meetings they said, oh we're probably going to hit (Ravichandran) Ashwin for 24 to 28 and not give him too many wickets, we'll take that. These guys now don't even think like that. It's like, how can we damage him? How can we whack him? He's not ragging it square," Vaughan said.

The former England batter reasoned it by claiming that the batters might have seen a lot of Ravichandran Ashwin over the years which has made them aware of his variations. He feels that the batters are not afraid to hit the ball out of the park if it is in their zone.

"They've obviously probably seen all his deliveries many, many times over so maybe they're picking it out of the hand a little bit better and if you do that you get more chance to hit the ball. I just think it's a different approach in terms of mentality. I just think if it's in their zone it's like, right okay, we don't care about that," he noted.

"The name's irrelevant" - Michael Vaughan on modern-day batters

While continuing the same conversation, Michael Vaughan hailed the modern-day batters for playing the ball instead of the bowler. He feels that the batters are confident enough to play their shots even off the best bowlers in the world.

"We don't care who it is. The name's irrelevant. It's just the ball that's coming down. It's a great mentality to have. We always used to say try and face the ball, not the name," mentioned Vaughan.

"It's quite hard to convince players that you just face the ball, but I think this modern player, they genuinely just look at the ball and think right it can be whacked, it doesn't matter what the name is," the former England skipper added.

Ravichandran Ashwin's poor returns

Ravichandran Ashwin's lack of penetration in his bowling has affected CSK's chances of creating pressure on opposition batters. The legendary offspinner finished with 1-46 in the last match against Rajasthan Royals as Nitish Rana took him for plenty of runs.

He was signed by CSK for INR 9.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. But he is yet to prove his worth. The Super Kings will hope their experienced bowler to put up match-winning performances in the upcoming matches.

CSK have slipped to the seventh spot in the points table and need an inspirational performance from their talismanic bowler. Their next game is at Chepauk and Ashwin knows the wicket quite well.