The Indian cricket team won the 2-match test series against New Zealand by 1-0 after defeating the visitors in the second test match by a huge margin of 372 runs at Mumbai. The Kiwis never looked comfortable in the game as first Indians posted a good total of 325 runs in the first innings but in response, the Kiwis got wrapped up at the meager score of 62 runs in their first innings and as a result, India got the lead of 263 runs. In the second innings, India declared its innings at the score of 276/7 and gave a big target of 540 runs to the New Zealand team to win the match. However, the Black Caps failed once again and the whole team got bundled out for only 167 runs.
While the Indian batsman Mayank Agarwal was adjudged as the Player of the Match for his brilliant knocks of 150 & 62, the Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was declared as the Player of the Series for his superb performance with ball in both the test matches. In the Mumbai test match, Ravichandran Ashwin took 8 wickets in both the innings and played an important role in India’s win.
Ravichandran Ashwin is undoubtedly the best Indian spinner of the present times and he is at the third position when it comes to taking the most wickets for the country. Ashwin has been instrumental in many wins of the Indian cricket team but because of his straight forward and bold attitude, he gets slammed a lot by the cricket fraternity. Ashwin is also one of those few Indian cricketers who mince no words and have the courage to face the world if they believe that they are correct.
Recently, the former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull came out in support of Ashwin and slammed his critics. While having a chat with the Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik on a show, Simon Doull says that the discussions regarding Ashwin’s performance at home and away have no base and he further asks as to why people just can’t celebrate a cricketer who is a great bowler.
Simon also adds that being India’s senior off-spinner is not an easy job but many people target him citing that he is dominant at home but his performance is not so good overseas which is not just with Ashwin. He further states that there are many bowlers in the cricket world including some Kiwi seam bowlers who are dominant at home but are not that good away. According to Simon Doull, it is the part and parcel of the game and people just choose the narrative which suits them the most.
In the Kanpur test, Ashwin achieved one more milestone when he surpassed Indian giants Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in regard to taking 50 wickets in a calendar year maximum times. While Ashwin has done it 4 times, Kumble and Harbhajan Singh have done it 3 times in their career.
We certainly agree with Simon Doull as Ravichandran Ashwin has given us so many memorable wins. What do you say?