Former India Bowling Coach Believes Ravichandran Ashwin Could Be Good Choice for Captaincy Post

Before the start of Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2018, not many would have thought ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin would be amongst the most successful captains in the ongoing league.

However, the experienced campaigner spinner has once again proved his grit and intelligence with the way he is leading Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) this season.

The 31-year old Chennai-based Ashwin has been sensational with the way he used his bowlers. Especially the amount of trust he kept in young Mujeeb UR Rahman has been exceptional. This made a fragile bowling unit look stronger with good performances by Andrew Tye.

Tye has been the stand out performer with the ball taking 20 wickets so far while donning the purple cap. On the other hand, Rahman took 14 wickets in IPL 2018. He was also not reluctant to drop some big names and bring in other players over the course of the season.

Australia’s Joe Dawes, former India bowling coach, feels that if a situation arises in future regarding Indian captaincy, Ashwin could be a front-runner for the top-brass post.

“As captain, I think he (Ashwin) will excel (at the international level). Once he finds his feet, he will do a good job because he has a great cricketing brain,” Hindustan Times quotes Dawes.

Ravichandran Ashwin was quite impressive with leg spin bowling this season.

Interestingly, the wily customer has been bowling plenty of leg spinners for the right-handers. And Dawes thinks his variations could help him more.

“Ashwin is a unique cricketer. He loves to try out new things and tinker with what he has. There were times as coach I would have loved him to keep things simple but this is what makes him tick and has helped him become one of the best spinners,” he added.

Dawes believes backing the players would play a significant role in the fold.

“As a coach, you should encourage players to add skills to their game as long as it does not take away from their core game,” he added.

Dawes Backs Shami, Umesh to feature in World Cup:Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were largely reserved for the longest format by the selectors over the past 12 months. However, Dawes thinks the duo should make it to the world cup squad next summer.

Both the pacers have shown good form in the recent months and were quite impressive with the ball in Test cricket. Umesh was a notch higher with his performances in the ongoing IPL. He has been a cornerstone in Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling.

“They have given opportunities to a number of fast bowlers in recent times like Shardul (Thakur), Bumrah to go with Shami, and the pairing of Umesh and Bhuvneshwar. I’m confident the experienced guys will step up when required,” Dawes concluded.