'That's cruel' - Ravichandran Ashwin clashes with Dinesh Karthik to defend Kuldeep Yadav

Former off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed his former India and Tamil Nadu teammate Dinesh Karthik for his recent comments on the left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Ashwin advised Karthik to watch Kuldeep's bowling carefully before commenting on his form.

Recently, Dinesh Karthik said during the commentary that Kuldeep Yadav is not having a good tournament in the Champions Trophy. Ashwin wasn't impressed with this statement and defended Kuldeep and his performances.

With India playing four spinners in their Playing XI, Kuldeep's role went into the shadow a little bit. The spinner was returning to the team after a long injury lay-off and needed some time to build his bowling rhythm.

Also read: Revealed: Why Team India won’t hold a parade or grand celebrations after Champions Trophy win

Ravichandran Ashwin slams Dinesh Karthik

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin called Dinesh Karthik's assessment 'cruel'. He feels that if Varun Chakravarthy is constantly bowling well, it doesn't mean that Kuldeep isn't despite the wickets not showing his hard work.

"My dear friend Dinesh Karthik, said during commentary that 'Kuldeep Yadav has not had one of his best tournaments', and I was like that is so cruel," the former India spinner said.

"Someone bowling like Varun Chakaravarthy is taking wickets and is being used well by Rohit Sharma, and he is bowling well no doubt, but that does not take away from the fact that Kuldeep Yadav is not bowling really well," he added.

Ashwin slammed the mentality of fans and experts to look into the stats of a player rather than looking at his impact. He claimed that the fans just pick out one single game and start criticising a player based on that performance.

"Sometimes what happens is that, after the match, we celebrate by giving awards like RO Water Purifier match winner or other stuff like that. With this what happens is that other performances go under the radar," Ashwin noted.

"Like Kuldeep Yadav did not pick any wickets in the semis, and many people went after him saying that he does not lift his game up in big games and all that. Please watch his bowling before saying all of that," he advised the viewers.

"Please come to the stumps" - R Ashwin to Kuldeep Yadav

Despite praising him, Ashwin also has a piece of advice for Kuldeep. He spoke about Kuldeep not standing behind the stumps which resulted in a runout chance being missed during the final.

"The one thing I notice about Kuldeep Yadav is that he should return to the stumps after delivering the ball. In the last match, he copped abuse from Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma), and even today he did not come close to the stumps during a run-out chance. Please come to the stumps from now on Kuldeep, that is my only complaint," he said.

During an instance during the match, Kuldeep didn't come up to the stumps after delivering the ball and thus, missed a simple run-out chance as there was nobody to collect Ravindra Jadeja's rocket through.

Kuldeep Yadav in CT 2025 final

Kuldeep had an excellent final match with the ball as he returned figures of 2-40 in 10 overs. He picked up the big wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson to land a huge blow on the opponents.

Ravindra was batting beautifully till that point but Kuldeep struck with his first ball of the spell to break the game open. In his next over, he picked up a simple caught and bowled chance to dismiss Kane Williamson cheaply.