‘He is just a class act,’ Gautam Gambhir says R Ashwin not being part of white-ball cricket is ‘very unfortunate’

At the moment, it seems Ravichandran Ashwin can do no wrong. The right-arm off-spinner was in tremendous form with the ball in Australia, where he was the spinner with most wickets in the series. Ashwin picked 12 wickets in 3 games at an average of 28.83, and he also displayed his skills with the bat in Sydney, where he saved the game for India.

Ashwin’s form with both the bat and the ball continued in the England series, as he picked his 29th fifer in the 2nd Test, and then followed it up with his 5th Test hundred. But despite all his plaudits in the longest format in recent days, Ashwin was not included in the T20I squad for India against England.

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Speaking on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected chat show, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir said that it is unfortunate that the India off-spinner is not a part of white-ball scheme of things.

“Someone who is coming close to taking 400 wickets and the same time getting five Test hundreds and still not being part of the white-ball scheme of things is very unfortunate. He is just a class act,” Gambhir said.

“He is just a quality bowler and his subtle variations. The amount of cricket he has played and the longevity he has played with and still the kind of impact he has had, it is just unbelievable,” Gambhir added.

Former India pacer Ashish further praised Ashwin and said that the 33-year-old is a good student of the game.

“This is not the first time that Ravichandran Ashwin has made such a big impact when you are playing at home. When you talk about how he is so different, first thing of course he has so much experience and so much confidence when you are playing at home, when he knows these wickets are going to be helpful to him,” Nehra said.

“He is a good student of the game. We have always seen that he wants to learn. There were some fitness problems with him. We heard coach Ravi Shastri say that he is working hard on his fitness, so he can bowl long spells and he enjoys bowling long spells,” he signed off.

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