Ravichandran Ashwin has bailed me out in a lot of situations: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni has quashed all speculations about having any difference with his spin bowling spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin after he clarified that Ashwin is his go-to man in any situation. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday hailed the off-spinner stating that he has “bailed” the team out on numerous occasions.

The rumors began to spread after MS Dhoni had under bowled his main spinner right from the start of World T20. Under-utilization of Ashwin in the WT20 semi-final against the West Indies on Saturday in the IPL further fuelled speculations about differences between the two players.

“As I have said, Ashwin has bailed me out in a lot of situations – whether bowling in first six or in the slog phase. He is a bowler who can come in and do well at any time,” Dhoni said.

The ace off-spinner was brought in the 16th over of IPL’s opening game against Mumbai Indians.

“It’s a subject, like revealing strategy. Ashwin is a matured bowler. He can bowl at any point of time. I knew the moment they (Mumbai Indians) lost a few wickets there was pressure on their middle or lower middle order,” Dhoni added.

Dhoni further said that he thought bringing in debutant leg spinner Murugan Ashwin to bowl his full four-over quota when MI were struggling would have helped debutant bowl without any signs of nervousness

“It was a very good platform for leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin to come in. Since you watched the game, you would have seen he is not someone who bowls a lot of short deliveries, but he was feeling the pressure.

“I thought it was more important for me to give him those four overs as in the longer run I need him as a wicket taking option, and I felt at that point of time if I can give him the four overs it will give him the confidence to come back probably in the second and third game,” he said.