Image: Sunil Gavaskar criticized Ashwin's unfair treatment in Indian cricket / © NDTV Sports
Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his frustration over the unfair treatment of Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired from international cricket on December 18. Despite being one of the top bowlers globally, Ashwin faced continuous criticism and was often excluded from the playing XI, with “team balance” often cited as the reason.
In his column for an esteemed daily, Gavaskar pointed out that Ashwin’s remarkable performances often went unacknowledged by the batter’s fraternity, despite him winning multiple Player of the Series awards. He mentioned:
Cricket being a batter’s game, the fact that he invariably won the Player of the Series award didn’t win him kudos among the batter’s fraternity. Every time there was even a five percent excuse to leave him out of the eleven, it was grabbed avidly with the excuse of team balance.
About the regularity of Ashwin in the home series, Gavaskar further added:
At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew that without him, they could not win the game. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC number one ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters… struggled in similar pitches and conditions in the SENA countries?
The former Indian captain also criticized the decision to deny Ashwin leadership roles. Gavaskar argued that Ashwin, with over 750 wickets and 4,000 runs in international cricket, deserved to be recognized with a leadership role, be it as captain or vice-captain.
Gavaskar concluded by lamenting the missed opportunity to reward Ashwin with a leadership role, despite his immense contribution to Indian cricket.