Former India cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan came under fire from Ravichandran Ashwin's supporters again after the former launched another scathing attack on the latter following his inclusion in the national squad for the World Cup.
In his latest salvo against Ravichandran Ashwin, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan pointed out a technical flaw in his bowling.
Sharing a picture of Ravichandran Ashwin in which he's on the verge of delivering a ball, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan declared that his action was incorrect.
“Do you still think that this bowling action is biomechanically correct??? That is all I am talking about,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Previously, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan tore into Ravichandran Ashwin for his poor record in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) countries.
“Indian batsman are struggling against spin because the pitches in India are doctored for Ashwin in Test matches. Look at his record in SENA Countries,” Laxman Sivaramakrishnan said on social media.
“Any fool will get wickets on tampered pitches in India. Go straight from the airport to the ground and tell the ground staff what areas to tamper, I have seen with my own eyes several times,” former India leg-spinner added.
“378 wickets in India. He is still playing because there is nobody else. Liability fielder – 20. Most unfit cricketer. Gives excuses for everything,” Laxman Sivaramakrishnan elaborated, explaining the reasons behind his explosive rant against Ravichandran Ashwin.
However, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan's comments about Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling action led to an uproar on social media.
Several Ravichandran Ashwin supporters reminded Laxman Sivaramakrishnan that with the same action, the former has taken over 700 wickets in international cricket while the latter has only 41 scalps to his name.
“This action fetched him over 700 international wickets. Stop crying you oldie,” a fan stated.
“Sir, Cricket is nowadays a batter's game & these days they are very aggressive. They line up a bowler and go after him if he continues to serve same kind of stuff. In order to stop the batsman from adapting to his action and lining it up, he changes his action,” another added.
“Okie, so now that you have been forgotten you are using Ravichandran Ashwin's name to come to the limelight. I had so much respect for you, but seeming to diminish with your every tweet out of jealousy,” a third argued.
“Heights of entitlement. Letting your own countryman down before a major tournament is unbecoming of a senior cricketer. You must book a session on ‘Kutty stories' for a master class on spin bowling,” a fourth suggested.
It is worth mentioning that Ravichandran Ashwin only made it into the Indian cricket team after Axar Patel, initially picked for the World Cup, got injured at the last minute.
Axar Patel suffered a quadriceps injury during India's match against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka last month.
The left-arm orthodox bowler was sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to expedite his recovery but failed to get fit for the tournament.
Notably, Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played an ODI in January 2022 before being drafted into the Indian team for the recently concluded three-match series against Australia, impressed almost everyone, including the fans, selectors and former players with his performance against Pat Cummins and his boys.
In the two games he played against the Kangaroos, Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed four wickets. His figures of 3/41 in Indore, where he posed serious problems for Australian batters, appear to have convinced skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid to recall him for the World Cup.
Besides, the World Cup is being played in India, handing Ravichandran Ashwin a massive advantage in home conditions. With his wide range of variations and ability to impart turn on his stock balls, he could be lethal on slow and dry Indian pitches.
Yet Laxman Sivaramakrishnan wasn't convinced about Ravichandran Ashwin becoming a part of India's World Cup squad.
Instead, he blamed the Indian curators for preparing undercooked pitches in India to assist the Tamil Nadu-born spinner during Test matches at home, which he opined was the prime reason behind his success in red-ball cricket.
For the unversed, Ravichandran Ashwin is only the second cricketer who was also a part of India's previous World Cup triumph in 2011, the other being talismanic batter Virat Kohli.
Like Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was unhappy with the move of the national selectors as he wanted either Yuzvendra Chahal or Washington Sundar to replace Axar Patel and not Ravichandran Ashwin.
“I personally feel the only miss in this side is Yuzvendra Chahal. I think the only aspect that is missing from this team is a leg-spinner,” Yuvraj Singh said at a public event in Delhi.
“I was very keen to see Washington Sundar in the side if we are not picking up Yuzi. But maybe the team wanted an experienced bowler, so that is why I think they went with R Ashwin,” he summed up.