Ravichandran Ashwin praises the cricketing mind of legend MS Dhoni. Talking about the 2011 World Cup win Ashwin depicts the role of skipper Dhoni.
Ravi Ashwin in conversation with Harsha Bhogle says this about his former skipper,
“Dhoni is not a captain, he is a director. He is actually a very, very good movie director like he is a director for the game. What does a movie director do? He picks characters and he picks the exact cast for that character. So, I think Dhoni, in his head, he picks a character, he knows where the character fits, who is the person for the character, and gives that person the exact situation to play his role to the tee. That’s what I think he did with Suresh Raina [in the 2011 ODI World Cup],“
Ashwin also shared how Dhoni used to inform and talk to players throughout the tournament in 2011. He remember Dhoni saying to him when he was not playing. Dhoni used to tell him that be prepared for the games ahead.
Ravichandran Ashwin will play his third ODI World Cup
The Tamil Nadu spinner played only a couple of matches in the 2011 ODI World Cup but in 2015. He played a much bigger role, as he finished with 13 wickets in eight games. The Indian team management decided to go in with two wrist spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the 2019 edition of the showpiece event and Ashwin had to miss out.
When the selectors announced the 15-man squad for the ODI World Cup 2023, Ashwin wasn’t picked as India went with Kuldeep, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel as the only spinners in the side. However, Axar suffered an injury during the Asia Cup 2023. Then, Ashwin grabbed his opportunity during the recent ODI series against Australia and replaced the injured left-arm spinner in the World Cup side.
Ashwin can play a crucial role in the games where team India is required to play three spinners. With the amount of experience he can be asset to the team. All the fans are hoping that Rohit Sharma led team can replicate the heroics of 2011.
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