Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that Ravichandran Ashwin had all the potential to become India Test skipper. The Tamil Nadu spinner took the world by surprise by announcing his sudden retirement following the IND vs AUS 3rd Test. Gavaskar called out the Indian team management for leaving out Ashwin despite his track record, questioning why top ranked batters were given more chances while Ashwin was allowed to warm the bench.
Ashwin would have been a great India captain: Gavaskar
In his column for Midday, Gavaskar opined that Ashwin should have at least been made the vice-captain for the Indian side, if not been allowed to lead the team for one series. He noted that the veteran was denied of being given the honour of being the vice-captain of the side.
“Ashwin would have made a fine captain for India, but he was denied even the honor of being the vice-captain. There was an opportunity to give him the belated honour even if it was for a token Test match and a limited-overs bilateral series, but that also was denied to him. That’s why it was so good to see Rohit Sharma ask him to lead the team out on his 100th Test match,” Gavaskar said.
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Further, he claimed that Ashwin was left out of India’s XI on most occasions because of “team balance”.
“At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew that without him, they could not win the game. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC number one-ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top-ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions?,” Gavaskar added.
A career that started in 2010, Ashwin saw many ups — along with winning the 2011 World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy, and two-time finalist of the World Test Championships. It must be admitted that R Ashwin proved to be the most effective in Test matches, where he not only won numerous matches for India with ball, but with the bat as well.
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