Why Did Ravi Ashwin Turn Down Asia Cup Final Call-Up? Dinesh Karthik Reveals
Ashwin made a return to the ODI fold vs AUS in Mohali (AP Photo)
Ravichandran Ashwin finally made a return to ODI cricket for India after a long hiatus of nearly 20 months. The highly experienced off-spinner was seen in action against Australia on Friday where he returned with with tidy figures of 1/47 in his full quota of allotted overs. However, it is being learnt that Ashwin had an opportunity to make an appearance a lot earlier during the Asia Cup 2023 final.
According to Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, Ashwin was in contention to replace an injured Axar Patel, who got injured against Bangladesh in the Super-4s clash. Ashwin couldn’t have certainly been a viable replacement. However, he decided against it which ultimately resulted in the inclusion of Washington Sundar in the final.
In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Kathik revealed that the veteran spinner wasn’t entirely match-fit. Ashwin only had the experience of a couple of local games under his belt. While Sundar was more seasoned at that point and was busy playing local tournaments. As a result, BCCI opted to pursue Sundar over Ashwin in the Asia Cup final.
“With a little inside information I know, I’ll end up defending Rohit Sharma, Ajit, Agarkar, and Rahul Dravid here. They actually called up R Ashwin first at the Asia Cup final. They had a conversation and Ashwin felt he wasn’t match ready yet. So, he said it’s better if I don’t come to this game because Washington was playing. He was playing in local tournaments in Chennai and he was in NCA. So, they sent Sundar for that one game.”
Ashwin was thrilled to make his comeback to white-ball cricket after being away for such a long period. During the first ODI, he accounted for the solitary dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne. With only two games left in the series, Ashwin has one last chance to impress the selectors as they head into the high-octane World Cup.
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