Out of the national reckoning for the limited overs series, dejected Ravichandran Ashwin has resigned himself to the destiny that his comeback will solely depend on how “others perceive” his cricket.
Test specialist Ashwin and Jadeja have lost their place in ODI and T20 squad to the young Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have been instrumental in India’s success in recent time.
“It entirely depends on what other people (team management and selectors) perceive of my cricket. It’s definitely not in my control. Like any other cricketer, I want to wear the blue jersey and represent India at the World Cup. That’s obviously there deep with in,” Ashwin said at the unveiling of the Tamil Nadu Premier League side Dindigul Dragons.
“At this stage of my career, physically and mentally, I am just focusing on enjoying my cricket. If I land an opportunity, I want to be in good frame of mind to grab it with both hands,” he added.
With leg-spinners being in the spotlight, Ashwin tried hands at the leg-spin in the recently concluded IPL. However, he said that he will not use it in England.
“Nothing for me is experimentation. There is logic behind whatever I do. Before I bowled a delivery of leg-spin in IPL, I have bowled about, probably, a lakh of balls in practice. The thought process alone is experimentation.
Ashwin is in no mood of experimentation that can ousted him from the test team after loosing limited overs spot.
“What I might do tomorrow in a game, I really don’t know. As a Test cricketer, I pretty much know what is important in a Test match. If I wanted to bowl a bunch of leg spin and googly, I would have done it in Afghanistan (test match),” Ashwin said.
Ashwin believes Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah’s will be key in the death overs in England limited overs series.
“England is a strong team in the shorter formats. They tweaked their strategy and team combination after the 2015 World Cup. The key for India in ODIs will be Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah’s death overs. Hopefully, it will be a high scoring series,” he added.
Read: Ravichandran Ashwin gets trolled over his comments on Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Ashwin is hopeful that spinners will play a crucial role in England test series that will happen at the second half of English summer.
“We have a good battery of fast bowlers who have done exceedingly well in the South Africa tour. We fancy our chances. Going in the second half of the English summer, the spinners will definitely come into play. I’m not going to set any personal records to achieve,” he added.
Ashwin also spoke about the controversial YoYo test in a ironic way.
“I passed my engineering exams, YoYo wasn’t that tough. If you ask if YoYo is needed in cricket. I have no opinion on that,” he added.
Ashwin said that if he gets an opportunity he would play for Worcestershire in English county again.
