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New Delhi: BCCI President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly has revealed that it was Virat Kohli who wanted Ravichandran Ashwin to become part of the white ball squad at the ICC World T20 2021. Ashwin got his blue jersey back in the T20 match against Afghanistan in which he took 2 wickets with an economy under 4.
The immaculate spinner was replaced when Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav marked their arrival in the international circuit to become the two frontline spin options for white ball format in 2017. Although Ashwin’s performance in the ODI and T20 format has been brilliant over the years, however, his dismal outing against Pakistan at the Champions Trophy final.
While speaking on ‘Backstage with Boria’, the BCCI president admitted that he was not 100 per cent sure of Ashwin’s inclusion in the white ball format after a gap of 3 years. Ganguly heaped praises on Ashwin for making the most of the chances during the T20 world cup and the New Zealand series. “I wasn’t sure whether he would be part of the white-ball team again. But then Virat Kohli wanted him to be part of the World Cup. And, whatever little bit of opportunity he got, I thought he was superb,” Ganguly said.
Ashwin scalped six wickets in the T20 World Cup with a couple of more wickets in the India vs New Zealand series concluded recently. Ganguly stressed that head coach Rahul Dravid and India’s new ODI captain Rohit Sharma appreciates his talent and skills in ODI cricket.
“Everybody speaks about him. Look at Rahul Dravid’s statement after the (Kanpur) Test match – he called him an all-time great. You don’t need rocket science to judge Ashwin’s talent. My appreciation just comes from what I see. It may be Ashwin, it may be (Shreyas) Iyer, it may be Rohit (Sharma), it may be Virat (Kohli),” Ganguly added.
