Ravichandran Ashwin Signs Up For Nottinghamshire

India off-spinner will ply his trade for Ravichandran Ashwin for Nottinghamshire for the second half of the ongoing county season. Ashwin will replace Australia’s James Pattinson as Nottinghamshire’s overseas player at the end of June. The Tamil Nadu ace is expected to feature in six of their final seven red-ball matches.

Ashwin will start his stint with Essex on June 30, followed by matches against Somerset and Surrey. He will miss the away fixture against Yorkshire but will return to play against Kent, Warwickshire and Surrey.

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“I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.  “I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started.”

Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has already inked a deal with Hampshire. Just like Ashwin, Rahane has also lost his place in India’s white-ball teams. Meanwhile, Ashwin will play six division 1 County games for the Nottinghamshire side that also has England’s premier fast bowler Stuart Broad in their ranks.

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This will be Ashwin’s second stint in English County. In 2017, he had turned up for Worcestershire and had made a big mark. The Tamil Nadu ace had picked up 20 wickets in four games in addition to scoring 214 runs. Apart from Rahane and Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara will also play county cricket. The right-handed batsman will ply his trade for Yorkshire.

Reports suggest that Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma may also feature in a few games if things fall in place. Meanwhile, the other members of the Test side like Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal will be with the India A side in the West Indies.

“We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell said. “Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options.

“As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well. We’ve seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition,” he added.