I have problems when people call Ravichandran Ashwin one of the all-time greats, says Sanjay Manjrekar

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his disagreement with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin being referred to as an all-time great. The cricketer-turned commentator highlighted his lack of five-wicket hauls in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) nations, as an area of concern. Manjrekar further stated that Ashwin makes his presence felt only on the spin-friendly wickets of India.

“When people start talking about him (Ashwin) as being one of the all-time greats of the game then I have a few problems,” he said on the ESPNcricinfo programme ‘Runorder’.

“One basic problem I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA countries, Ashwin doesn’t have a single five-wicket haul there. And the other thing when you talk about him running through sides on Indian pitches that are suited to his kind of bowling is that in the last four years, Jadeja has matched him with wicket-taking abilities. Then, interestingly, in the last series against England, Axar Patel got more wickets than Ashwin on similar pitches. So that is my problem with accepting Ashwin as a real all-time great,” added Manjrekar.

Ian Chappell backs Ravichandran Ashwin

The cricketer-turned commentator received a counter-response from former Australian skipper Ian Chappell.

“I would like to make a couple of points there — if you look at Joel Garner, I mean how many five-wicket hauls Joel Garner has? Not many, when you consider how good he was and his record. And why, because he was performing with three other very, very fine players,” said Chappell.

“And I think, particularly of late, I find that the Indian attack has been so strong that the wickets are being shared around more. And the other point I would make is because of Ashwin’s reputation I think the England players probably concentrated more on keeping Ashwin out and with Axar Patel, well, let’s be blunt about it, they didn’t have a bloody clue,” he added.

Chappell went on to term Ashwin as a better bowler than Nathan Lyon.

“I think Ashwin is a better bowler than Nathan Lyon. Have a look at Nathan Lyon’s strike rate, you are in the 70s and I am going back to 2018. Nathan Lyon, to me, I think runs get scored through the onside when he is bowling to the right-handers and that really just shouldn’t happen. Yes, he is a fine bowler but I think Ashwin is a better bowler,” he concluded.