By: Vaishali Mehta
“My professional ego was hurt.” Ravichandran Ashwin had said in conversations with Ravi Shastri and VVS Laxman. This remark came after he missed India’s Champions Trophy games against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Ashwin should have played all five one-dayers against the West Indies. But, the lanky off-spinner was benched in the 4th ODI. What was the reason? Has captain Virat Kohli lost trust in his premier off-spinner?
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In 2015 World Cup against Australia and New Zealand, Ashwin picked up 13 wickets at 25.38. Now time has changed along with captains and coaches. On Sunday Ashwin was replaced by Ravindra Jadeja.
Kohli has done the same as MS Dhoni and justified leaving Ashwin out during the one-day series in Australia.
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“If you see how they had played Ashwin so far in the tournament, I thought he bowled well in the last game. But it was the only slot available for trade,” Dhoni had said. “Because we couldn’t have dropped Jadeja.”
Kohli, had also given reasons of dropping Ashwin against Pakistan in Birmingham. “He was the first guy who told me that I have no problems with the kind of combinations you’re going in with.”
This was a week before Ashwin spoke about being “professionally hurt”. Even David Warne also pointed out something interesting during the final between India and Pakistan.
“The captain and his bowler don’t seem to be in sync,” Warner had said. “Kohli has a slip and clearly wants Ashwin to attack but he seems keen on cutting off the runs.”
