Ravichandran Ashwin Could Play A County Match For Surrey Ahead Of England Test Series

Senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to feature in a County Championship match for Surrey, given he gets the required work visa on time before re-joining the Indian squad for the 5-Test series against hosts England.

Surrey are lined up to play Somerset from July 11 to 14 at The Oval. Ravichandran Ashwin is already in England for the WTC final last month and the upcoming Test series; he will need a work visa to play the county game and both parties are confident it will be done in time before the game.

He has represented Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire in the past. In his 2019 season, Ravichandran Ashwin took 34 wickets at 24.58 in five first-class matches for Surrey and scored 339 runs at 37.66.

The Indian squad is currently on a break before it re-unites in the bubble to prepare for the series against England, who lost their last Test series to New Zealand. According to recent reports, the Indian management have made a late request to the ECB for one or two tour game(s) before they travel to Nottingham for the first Tes, which starts on August 4.

BCCI recommends Ravichandran Ashwin and Mithali Raj for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

The BCCI has recommended women’s Test and ODI captain and legendary batsman Mithali Raj and Ravichandran Ashwin for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honour.

The board has also recommended the names of Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah for the Arjuna Award, a government honour to recognise outstanding achievements in national sport.

Raj has completed 22 years in international cricket last month. She is also the leading run-scorer in women’s ODIs with 7304 runs. Under her captaincy, India have reached the final of the 50-over World Cup twice – in 2005 and 2017.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the off-spinning allrounder, is already an Arjuna awardee. He has snapped 413 Test wickets – fourth-highest among Indians – 150 wickets in ODIs, and 42 in T20Is so far. He also finished the World Test Championship cycle as the highest wicket-taker with 71 scalps.

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