Why not give Ravi Ashwin a comeback chance in white-ball cricket, asks Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan reckons that Ashwin can be a genuine wicket-taker even in T20s.

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Harbhajan reckons that Ashwin can be a genuine wicket-taker even in T20s.
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LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 23: Harbhajan Singh. (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)

In cricketing terms, they might still be competitors even though Harbhajan Singh no more features in the national team. But that doesn’t make the Terminator forget the camaraderie he should show towards his fellow off-spinner Ravi Ashwin. According to the 39-year-old, the Tamil Nadu bowler deserves a chance to return to India’s white-ball squad.

Ashwin has remained a regular in Tests barring a short phase in the recent times but he has not played in white-ball cricket for some years now despite playing in the IPL every year. The 33-year-old had a good show against South Africa recently and did well in the first Test against Bangladesh too by picking five wickets. Will the national selectors pick him on Thursday as they sit to finalise the T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming series against the West Indies?

Ravi Ashwin has done a good job with red ball: Harbhajan

Ashwin, who has over 200 wickets combined in the ODIs and T20Is, last played on those formats in June-July 2017. “If you are looking to bowl a spinner up front (which Sundar has been doing in T20s), you rather have a wicket-taker, which Ashwin is. Why not (give him a chance)? He has also done a good job with the red ball recently,” Indian Express cited agencies quoting Harbhajan, India’s third-highest wicket-taker in Tests but under challenge from Ashwin, as saying.

“Ashwin spins the ball, he has got more variations. Someone like Sundar needs to learn. I want him to do well. I am all for blooding in youngsters but they must learn else they will be replaced, considering the stiff competition,” Harbhajan, who was speaking at the Australian High Commission, further heard saying.

Ravi Ashwin, a member of India’s World Cup-winning squad of 2011, was the team’s main spinner along with Ravindra Jadeja till the arrivals of wrist spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. While Jadeja still made a comeback and impressed in this year’s World Cup, Ashwin is yet to don the blues again.

Harbhajan though still added that the likes of Chahal and Kuldeep remain India’s best bets for providing breakthroughs when it is required. The West Indies will play three T20Is and three ODIs against India between December 8 and 22.

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