With the downfall of Pakistan in terms of playing cricket within the sub continent where countries like Afghanistan and Nepal are punching above their weights in the Asian cricketing circuits, saddens the likes of Indian off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who believes after the drafts of the group stages for the upcoming ICC World T20I to be taken place in the Caribbean Islands and the United States of América has been announced and the riveting India vs Pakistan clash taking place at New York on 9th June 2024.
During the olden days of cricketing history, India and Pakistan has been witnessing some interesting battles on the cricket field post Independence and the rivalry between the two had smitten the eyes of cricket lovers and experts from the world around. Both teams in the past has produced great Cricketing legends in the likes of Zaheer Abbas, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, Anil Kumble , Imran Khan , Javed Miandad etc. and many more to the fore.
However due to the political tensions between two countries, lack of bilateral series between the two arch rivals has resulted a drop in popularity of the cricket rivalry especially with the dismal performances of the Pakistan cricket team in the past few years. The rivalry now seems subdued wit Indian team through its better techniques and management skills has supremacy in all formats of the game than Pakistan.
Indian Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been instrumental part of the Indian bowling attack in tests with 490 test wickets to his name . However his pyrotechnics with the ball and his records in the Caribbean Islands still finds him in contention for the marquee tournament come June 2024.
In September 2021, Ashwin earned a surprise recall to the Indian squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, more than four years since he played a T20 international. He made the comeback in white-ball cricket in India’s third match of the tournament against Afghanistan and bowled a good spell of 2–14 in 4 overs. However India’s tenure as a team in this world cup was dismal as the team crashed out at the early stages of the tournament owing to the lashes on key players afterwards.
After the 2021 wT20 debacle, Ashwin was kept away from the T20I setup and did not played any white ball games as leggie Yuzvendra Chahal was given preference over the Indian offspinner. However fortunes smiled on Ravichandran Ashwin who did not played a single white ball game post 2021 till August 2022 as he was roped in the Indian squad touring Australia for the marquee event of 2022 due to his long experience as a white ball specialist off spinner.
Ashwin picked up six wickets from as many matches at an economy rate of 8.15. He, along with Axar Patel, formed India’s spin-bowling unit in absence of star all rounder Ravindra Jadeja due to injury ,failed to make much of an impact on the Australian pitches.
Apart from a match winning boundary versus Pakistan and a quickfire 13 runs inning versus Bangladesh, Ashwin faltered when it mattered the most in the semifinals of then Champions England as he leaked 27 runs in two overs as India lost to Jos Buttler’s England by 10 wickets at the Adelaide Oval and crashed out of the mega event owing to controversies and lashes after such a shameful exit.
What a fabulous player Javed Miandad was!!- Ravichandran Ashwin
Indian offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin who is famous on his Youtube and Instagram channels recently shared his thoughts on how player battles would go if selected greats from the 90s would square off against modern day stars
An Instagram poll doing the rounds, shared also on Ashwin’s story, asked fans to pick who they think will win the individual battle if these players faced each other.
There were six head-to-head battles, including Ashwin vs Pakistan’s Javed Miandad. The others were Virat Kohli vs Waqar Younis, Babar Azam vs Anil Kumble, Saeed Anwar vs Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma vs Wasim Akram, and Sachin Tendulkar vs Shaheen Afridi.
Ashwin posted the picture of the battles on his story, along with the caption:
“Miandad will win the battle against me. What a fabulous player he was. I just wish there was a Time Machine,”
Ashwin’s Instagram story comes days after the International Cricket Council (ICC) released the schedule for the 2024 T20 World Cup, where India will play arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-voltage clash in New York on June 9. The two teams have not played a bilateral series since 2013, adding more weightage to an already charged up cricketing rivalry.
Speaking about Ravichandran Ashwin’s opponent Miandad, the former Pakistani batter played 124 Tests and 233 ODIs, scoring 16123 runs across formats, including 31 tons and 93 half-centuries. The legendary batter had a brilliant track record against India, scoring 3403 runs in 63 matches, including eight tons and 20 half-centuries.
Unlike Miandad, Ravichandran Ashwin has only played in white-ball formats against Pakistan since the two neighboring countries play each other only in the ICC tournaments (since 2013) due to ongoing geopolitical tension between them. He has scalped 13 wickets in 14 matches against Pakistan.
Ravichandran Ashwin nominated for Test Cricketer of the Year Award
Ravichandran Ashwin has been nominated for the Test Cricketer of the Year Award 2023 alongside Australia’s Travis Head, Usman Khawaja and England’s Joe Root. He has scalped 41 wickets in seven Tests in 2023, also winning the Player of the Series Award in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The red ball legend,Ashwin has scalped 490 wickets in 95 Tests, which includes 42 fifers. His last outing was during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion, where he ended the game with just one wicket. His next Test outing will be in the five-match red-ball series against England at home, starting on January 25 at Hyderabad.
With the series against England in own backyard and the IPL to follow, Ashwin who plays for Rajasthan Royals will once again try to make an impression on the selectors in setup for his selection for the ICC World T20I 2024