R Ashwin has made a great comeback in white ball cricket says Rohit Sharma

India captain Rohit Sharma has hailed India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel and said that both of them are wicket-taking bowlers.

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin; Credit: Twitter/@Sportscasmm
By Sreejith C R | Nov 22, 2021 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Ravichandran Ashwin has made a “great comeback” to white ball cricket and has become a wicket taking option for India in the middle overs in T20 cricket, captain Rohit sharma has said. The veteran Off-spinner lost his place in the limited overs cricket after India’s humiliating loss to Pakistan in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final. However Ashwin has made a comeback into the limited over international cricket and took three wickets in the two T20I’s he played against New Zealand recently.

“It has been a great comeback from him. We all know that he is a quality bowler. He has proven himself with the red ball over the years and even in white-ball cricket he doesn’t have a bad record. Now the way he has comeback and bowled in the UAE and then here just shows the quality that he has,” said Rohit.

“He is always an attacking option for a captain. When you have someone like him in the squad it is always an opportunity to take wickets in the middle (overs) and we understand how important that is. That is the phase when you can put the breaks on the scoring rate and take wickets.

Ashwin and Axar are wicket-taking options: Rohit

“Ashwin provides that (option) alongwith Axar (Patel). Both these guys are wicket-taking options in this phase and for them it’s never about surviving. It is always about ‘how I can get the batter out or put them under pressure’. That is how they think and come up with all the time,” said Rohit.

In the third  and final T20I against New Zealand on Sunday, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team won the match by 73 runs to clean sweep the series 3-0. India batted first and posted a big total of 184 for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Captain Rohit led from the front with yet another impressive knock of 56 from 31 balls.

Ishan Kishan who opened the batting with Rohit in place of KL Rahul scored 29 off 21 balls. Meanwhile Shreyan Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer made 25 and 20 respectively to power India to a big total.

New Zealand opener Martin Guptill gave a brilliant start to the chase as he scored a quick fire 51 off 36 balls that included four boundaries and four maximums. But he never got support from the other end as six Kiwi batsmen got dismissed for single digit scores.

Axar Patel was the pick of the India bowlers, returning with figures of 3/9 in three overs. Yuzvendra Chahal who came in place of Ashwin, picked up 1 wicket by giving away 26 runs.





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