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Declaring that the 37-year-old spinner is undeserving
of playing in ODIs and T20Is, Yuvraj Singh rendered a daring decision about
Ravichandran Ashwin’s white-ball career. After losing his position to Kuldeep
Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in 2017, Ashwin’s tenure in limited overs cricket
has been everything but smooth. Since then, he has made irregular appearances
for various tournaments. The last time Ashwin played for India at the World Cup
was in 2023, filling in for the injured Axar Patel. Ironically, Ashwin only
played in one game—a 1/34 loss to Australia in Chennai.
“Ashwin is a great bowler but I don’t think he
deserves a place in ODIs and T20s. He is very good with the ball, but what does
he bring with the bat? Or as a fielder? In the Test team, yes, he should be
there. But in white-ball cricket, I don’t think he deserves a place,”
Yuvraj, a two-time World Cup winner, told Times of India.
Ashwin was a vital component of the Indian white-ball
team from 2011 to the start of 2017. With 156 wickets in 116 ODIs and 72
strikes from 65 T20Is, isn’t awful. However, the rise of ‘Kul-Cha’ meant that
Virat Kohli fell behind while he was captain. India never deliberately went
back to Ashwin, even as Kuldeep and Chahal began to falter; however, in World
Cups, Ashwin always seems to appear out of nowhere.
Ashwin was chosen ahead of Chahal in the 2021 T20
World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. He played against Afghanistan, Scotland,
and Namibia before to playing the NZ T20Is at home after missing the matches
against Pakistan and New Zealand.
What’s even more intriguing is Ashwin’s story from the
last seven years in the ODI. Before vanishing once more after 2017, Ashwin was
invited back for the ODIs against South Africa in January 2022. And,
predictably, was back in time, right before the World Cup. Following his
victory of 3/41 against Australia in a thrilling match in Indore, the ‘Ashwin
for World Cup’ hypothesis began to circulate. With Axar battling a quadriceps
injury, Ashwin returned instantly to lead India in the race for the championship.