Former India opener and selector K Srikkanth was not impressed with veteran spinner R Ashwin’s bowling performance during Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) nine-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
“What is Ashwin doing? He has turned completely defensive,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel ‘Cheeky Cheeka’.
“He is not looking to take wickets. It’s like, ‘Let me just get through these four overs.’ He never went for wicket-taking. Just bowling safe.
“What was the idea of picking Ashwin today? To get two wickets and win the match. But what did he do? He bowled safely in the powerplay.
“It didn’t matter to CSK at all. MI (Mumbai Indians) were also sensible, taking singles off him. You have to understand the match situation, the IPL situation – and bowl accordingly,” Srikkanth said.
R Ashwin has picked up only five wickets in seven outings this season.
At the start of the tournament, Srikkanth had questioned how CSK had used Ashwin. He said: “With regards to Ashwin, don’t drop him, but stop him from bowling in the powerplay. Between the 7th and 18th over, he can be effective. With Jadeja and Noor Ahmad, they can easily bowl 10 overs at least.”
Srikkanth also maintained that the season for CSK is over and they should start building for the next season.
“Dhoni has already started talking about next season. That means he is pretty frustrated with this team’s performance. He was right in saying that the guys have to own up and do something fantastic. Where CSK lost was in the auction itself. If you select players like Sam Curran, Overton, Tripathi, Hooda, how can you win matches?” Srikkanth said.
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