Ravichandran Ashwin was accused of shifting his focus from batting ever since another all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was promoted ahead of him in the Test batting lineup reckons former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar.
Ravichandran Ashwin has batted in the top-order for his state team, Tamil Nadu, and has 2,400 runs in Tests to go with four centuries- all of which have come against the West Indies- and 11 half-centuries.
Ravichandran Ashwin Was Almost Playing Role Of All Rounder Till 2016: Sanjay Manjrekar
However, since August 2017, he hasn’t scored a single half-century and in the last 20 Tests, he averages a mere 15.37 with a top-score of 38. Last time he scored a fifty was in and against Sri Lanka in August 2017. He averaged 44 in that series with the bat but in next few series, his batting average never touched 25.
There is more pressure on Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling now according to Sanjay Manjrekar.
“Batsmen have an average of 35 and that was Ashwin’s average till 2016. So, he was almost playing the role of an all-rounder. He had four centuries, all against West Indies, and 10 fifties for a match-winning bowler,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying during a discussion on the Sony Sports network.
For the last couple of years, skipper Virat Kohli has preferred Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin, whose motivation from batting has gone down significantly and his confidence with the bat has reached a low after he was omitted from limited-overs lineup too.
Ravichandran Ashwin Is Nowadays Under More Pressure To Bowl Well: Sanjay Manjrekar
As per Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravichandran Ashwin used to get picked when India had to pick one spinner in the lineup. However, things have changed with the progression of time after Ravindra Jadeja’s rise as a batsman.
“But I have a theory that after 2017, Jadeja as a batsman has started to come ahead of him and has developed as a batsman. That means Ashwin’s number went a little down and after that, I feel his motivation for batting went down,” he stated.
“He is also thinking somewhere or the other that he should focus more on his bowling. There is more pressure on his bowling now. Because earlier if one spinner was to be picked, Ashwin was chosen straight away but now Jadeja is competing with him in Tests,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
Ravichandran Ashwin, at the present point in time, is India’s standout bowler in the ongoing Day-Night Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval. He got rid of Steve Smith, ICC’s number-one ranked Test batter, Travis Head, Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon, as he was the wrecker in chief with four scalps helping India to take a lead of 53 runs after the first innings. Ravindra Jadeja, on the other hand, isn’t a part of the match after being concussed in 1st T20I.
India meanwhile suffered a batting collapse which saw them managing their lowest ever Test score of 36/9 handing Australia the initiative after gaining a first innings lead