Mumbai 5 Aug : Former India cricketer SanjayManjrekar believes even though Ravichandran Ashwin might be lacking a little in the ability to take wickets in middle overs in T20I cricket, he has mastered the art of being efficient and a good wicket-taking bowler such as Yuzvendra Chahal.Ashwin has been a success in the five-match T20I series against the West Indies, with the 35-year-old off-spinner taking two wickets in the first game as India beat the host by 68 runs in Trinidad.
“I believe that Ashwin’s selection for the tour (of West Indies) was an excellent choice.In the recent few of seasons in the Indian T20 league, Ashwin has started making an impact.
I find myself liking Ashwin when he’s with someone similar to (Yuzvendra) Chahal.The onus does not lie on Ashwin to alter the course of the game.
The spinner’s role in T20 cricket in the middle, is to score wickets similar to what Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have for South Africa,” opined Manjrekar on Sports18’s show ‘Sports over the Top’.
“That’s the place Ashwin was lacking a little as spinner in T20 cricket.
He was primarily focused on efficiency however, when you have someone like Chahal or another wrist spinner who can take wickets and Ashwin can be a great partner because Ashwin has developed the art of being efficient in T20 cricket.In the initial T20 that he played, two of wickets was a good indication, but that’s exactly what you can expect with Ashwin and he will be a great complement to the other wicket-taking spinner in the team,” said Manjrekar.
Manjrekar also believed Ashwin might be in the possibility of being considered to play in the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later in the year and added that there’ll be a lot of spinners slot in the team.
“Who are his (Ashwin’s) opponents right now? There’s Chahal who is confirmed as a spinner based on current form.You’ve got Axar Patel, and you’ve had (Ravindra) Jadeja who could perform some of bowling.(Deepak) Hooda bowled one over in the last game, and Kuldeep Yadav was there and Ravichandran Ashwin.”
The former cricketer said it is unlikely that the India management will include two of them Kuldeep Yadav as well as Yuzvendra Chahal in the eleven in T20 cricket, since they could not be successful together.
“I do not believe that this combination will ever be used by India.
At the very least, in T20 cricket, you’ll have Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav collaborating in the form of two spinners.Or, it could be Axar Patel or Chahal or Ashwin or Chahal or in the event that Chahal isn’t fit, they could choose to choose to play Kuldeep Yadav as a bet in one of the games.
I don’t think that we’ll see Chahal and Kuldeep being reunited, but maybe in 50 overs of cricket they might,” opined Manjrekar.
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