Nottinghamshire signs Ravi Ashwin as their overseas player for the 2nd half of the County Championship

India’s ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has given everything into proving himself as equipped for limited-overs cricket, as he has been in Test Cricket. He did fairly well as captain of the Kings XI Punjab franchise in the 2019 season of the Indian Premier League, probably as a final hope to get a World Cup spot. However, the tag of being a red-ball specialist hasn’t left him and he did not board the flight with the team to England and Wales for the showpiece event that commences on May 30.

But his red-ball expertise hasn’t gone into vain and the 32-year-old will be flying to England very soon. The Nottinghamshire Cricket Club has confirmed that they’ve signed the Indian spin specialist Ravichandran Ashwin for the second half of the Specsavers County Championship season. The off-spinning all-rounder has been roped in as the overseas player of the Notts as a replacement for Australia’s James Pattinson.

The second half will be starting at the end of June and Ashwin, India’s fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests is expected to feature in six of the final seven red ball fixtures. In Test cricket, the veteran spinner has 342 scalps at an average of 25.43, including 26 five-wicket hauls. He’s equipped with batting too, with 2,361 runs at an average of 29.14 in his 65 matches, including a career-best of 124 coming against the West Indies in 2013.

He will miss the trip to Scarborough to face Yorkshire, scheduled on August 18, due to international commitments with India, since the national team will be touring West Indies at that time. However, Ashwin will be back to face Kent on September 10. And following that he will feature in the remainder of the series, against Warwickshire and Surrey in the final two matches of the season.

“We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler,” said Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket, Mick Newell. “Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options. As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well. We’ve seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition, ” he added.

Ravi Ashwin is all set for his stint with the Notts

Ashwin’s Nottinghamshire stint will be his second in county cricket as the off-spinner has previously played for Worcestershire in 2017. He had put the English conditions into full use as he bagged 20 wickets at 29.15, including 5-68 against Gloucestershire. And as usual, he proved himself to be an all-rounder by all means since he amassed 214 runs at an average of 42.8.

According to trentbridge.co.uk, Ashwin was quoted saying, “I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories. I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started.”

His county stint will commence at home against Essex on Sunday 30 June, followed by matches against Somerset and Surrey.

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