“R Ashwin Doesn’t Deserve Place In ODIs, T20Is”: Yuvraj Singh

One of the greatest players of his generation, Ravichandran Ashwin has done wonders in Test cricket, climbing the ladder of success with his exceptional wicket-taking abilities. But, there are those who feel Ashwin isn’t the sort of player who should be banked upon much in white-ball cricket. Despite Ashwin’s rather topsy-turvy career in ODIs and T20Is, he has been part of several World Cups (in both formats). Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, when asked about Ashwin’s white-ball career, was quick to say that the veteran spinner “doesn’t deserve” a place in India’s T20I and ODI sides.

In a chat with the Times of India, Yuvraj was quick to point out how good Ashwin is as a red-ball cricketer, but the same can’t be said because of what the limited-overs formats demand from a player. For Yuvi, Ashwin is a great bowler but doesn’t bring much with the bat and in the field in white-ball formats.

“Ashwin is a great bowler but I don’t think he deserves a place in ODIs and T20s. He is very good with the ball, but what does he bring with the bat? Or as a fielder? In the Test team, yes, he should be there. But in white-ball cricket, I don’t think he deserves a place,” Yuvraj said.

Yuvraj and Ashwin were part of the Indian team that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. Time and again, Ashwin has spoken quite highly of Yuvraj’s contributions to Indian cricket, especially considering the health crisis he went through.

In one of the videos on his YouTube channel, Ashwin had revealed how shocked he was upon knowing that he had cancer.

“Yuvi used to cough, and he used to cough vehemently. I used to think that it is the pressure of the game and he is coughing it off and he used to cough in the middle. Literally, nobody had any idea, at least from the junior segment of the team that he was suffering from a serious illness,” Ashwin had said.

“When it broke out (the news of Yuvraj having cancer), I was shocked because I did not expect somebody who had just become Player of the series, in fact like I would say, ‘Bharat ka Icon’. That literally was it. I think Sachin Tendulkar played an unbelievably big role in that Yuvraj Singh’s World Cup. I call it the Yuvraj Singh’s World Cup because you name it, he was there in that situation in the centre,” Ashwin added.