Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday played a crucial role in India’s 68-run win against the West Indies. Back in T20Is after 8 months, the veteran off-spinner scored a valuable 13 not-out off 10 deliveries and then returned figures of 2 for 22 in four overs as the Men in Blue registered a 68-run win after setting a mammoth 191-run target at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad.
Ashwin stole the show with the prized wickets of opposition captain Nicholas Pooran and devastating batting Shimron Hetmyer. It was one such incident when the veteran off-spinner took down a couple of left-handers with his clever bowling.
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Former India opener Aakash Chopra was all praise for Ashwin who showcased a commendable performance against the Windies. Reviewing India’s win in his latest YouTube video, the cricketer-turned-commentator said,
“India went in with three spinners. Interestingly enough Ravichandran Ashwin has come back here. Ash bowled well, he picked up two wickets. He dismissed Pooran, I thought that was a huge wicket, and then Hetmyer down the order. Left-handers kneel before him when they come in front of him.”
“He (Ashwin) scored 13 runs off 10 balls, hit a six as well, gave support to Karthik also. Although Karthik was farming the strike, which was the right thing to do, Ashwin was there with him,” he added.
Chopra further spoke about the pace bowlers and underlined the good work done by Bhuvnehswar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh. The duo shared 3 wickets among each other as India restricted the Windies for 122/8.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar once again was brilliant, economical – two overs for 11 runs and a wicket. Arshdeep Singh – that’s another thread I wanted to talk about. Avesh was being played earlier but here Arsh was played and he bowled well,” Chopra said.
“He picked up two wickets and Arshdeep is a beautiful option. We were there with T Natarajan because the left is right in T20 cricket, we were going with that viewpoint. But now if he is not there, then Arshdeep’s stocks are rising. I was very happy the way he bowled on this dead pitch,” he added.
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