Former India batsman Yuvraj Singh came out with a brutal analysis on R Ashwin as he said that the spin-bowling all-rounder does not deserve a place in the white-ball sides of Indian men’s cricket team. Yuvraj argued that while Ashwin is a great Test cricketer, his skills in white-ball cricket are limited. Ashwin was part of India’s squad for the ODI World Cup 2023 where India reached the final and lost it to Australia. Ashwin played just one out of 11 matches that India played in the tournament last year.
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“Ashwin is a great bowler but I don;t think he deserves a place in PDIs 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 told Times of India.
Yuvraj also spoke on the current hot topic in IPL which is Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain of Mumbai Indians (MI). Hardik was named as the new leader very soon after he was traded in from Gujarat Titans (GT) to MI last year. This decision by the five-time champions irked the Rohit Sharma fans who eventually started trolling the franchise. MI lost upto 10 lakh followers on Instagram reportedly after this move as Rohit fans shifted their base to other teams.
But Yuvraj feels that franchises have to think long term as far as captaincy goes and the decision must have been taken looking in future.
“In franchise cricket, it always gets tough as you get old. Every franchise is always looking to promote a young player on whom they have spent a lot, and that is only fair,” said Yuvraj.
He also said that he too faced similar situation in the past and understands that there is no substitute to experience.
“..I have faced this situation too. But then, there can’t be a replacement for experience. Rohit has huge experience and has delivered. But a franchise has to think long term,” added Yuvraj.
Coming back to Yuvraj’s comment on Ashwin’s white-ball skills, it will be interesting to see how the Chennai-born spinner reacts to the criticism made by 2011 World Cup Man of the Series award winner. Ashwin is known to be an expressive personality and has a YouTube channel to where he analyzes his and others’ game in a very detailed manner. Let’s see if the master spinner has an opinion on Yuvi’s opinion on him.