Tom Moody, the former Australian cricketer, has lauded India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for his performance against Namibia in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Tom Moody pointed out how Namibia batters struggled to read Ravichandran Ashwin properly, despite the wicket not being a rank-turner. Tom Moody highlighted Ravichandran Ashwin’s ability to vary flight and pace as the prime reasons behind his success.
Tom Moody: Ravichandran Ashwin Showed His Class Against Namibia
Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played an international game in June in the World Test Championship, finally got a game after nearly four and half months. He was named in the playing XI after mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy developed a left calf issue.
Senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had impressive figures of 2 for 14 on his white-ball comeback against Afghanistan, then 1/29 against Scotland and 3/20 against Namibia.
Tom Moody said: “He (Ravichandran Ashwin) showed his class. He didn’t pick up a wicket in his first over, but a wicket in every over since [against Namibia]. He is very clever with his flight, his change of pace, and his control. A lot of the batsmen could not read which way he was turning it, not that there was a lot of turn.”
After more than four years, Ravichandran Ashwin returned to India’s white-ball team and was impressed with his impactful performances in the T20I World Cup. The off-spinner finished the competition on a high note, picking up three wickets against Namibia in India’s last Super 12 fixture.
India signed off from the T20 World Cup on a winning note after restricting Namibia to 132. Virat Kohli was captaining in his last T20I. Rohit Sharma sealed the chase with 56 off 37 after Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets each. KL Rahul was unbeaten on 54 as India won by 9 wickets.
Tom Moody Optimistic Of Off Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin Playing Next 2022 T20I World Cup
Commenting on Ravichandran Ashwin’s chances of featuring for Team India in next year’s T20 World Cup, Tom Moody stated that the off-spinner could definitely be in the scheme of things. However, the former cricketer admitted it would be tough to predict the three spinners India will pick. But he believes that Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to be in the mix of things as India prepares for the next year’s T20 World Cup.
Tom Moody added: “He would be a part of the group of spinners I’d be looking at. He’d be part of that group that you would be working with towards that campaign. You cannot determine the final 3 spinners that you would end up in your squad until you are closer to that time, but he is very much closer to that time.”
The Virat Kohli-led side suffered a torrid start to their campaign, losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two matches of the tournament where Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t feature. This ultimately led to their ouster from the tournament.
The 34-year-old Ravichandran Ashwin last played white-ball cricket for India in 2017 before being sidelined from one-day cricket following the Champions Trophy 2017 debacle. As a result, he was left out from all 4 Tests that India played on the England tour, despite being the leading wicket-taker in the group by picking up 413 wickets in the 79 Tests he has played for India, at an excellent average of 24.56.
India 136 for 1 (Rohit 56, Rahul 54*) beat Namibia 132 for 8 (Wiese 26, Jadeja 3-16, Ashwin 3-20) by nine wickets