India allrounder Ravichandran Ashwin has often been trolled on social media, especially for his performances in limited-overs cricket. On Sunday, he again fell victim to trolls.
During the weekend, Ravichandran Ashwin helped Team India defeat Bangladesh by three wickets in a pulsating clash in the second Test. The Chennai-based cricketer produced an all-round display, taking six wickets besides making a vital 54 runs in the thrilling encounter, and was named the Player of the Match.
Ravichandran Ashwin was the highest scorer for the visitors in the final innings with an unbeaten 42 off 62 deliveries as he forged a 71-run stand with the in-form Shreyas Iyer for the eighth wicket.
The pair negated the big threat of Bangladeshi spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz who had tormented the Indian top order, picking five wickets before R Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer came together to steer India to a memorable win.
India's victory over the hosts came after the visitors resumed action on Day 4 in a precarious situation, having put only 45 runs on the board while losing four wickets. With 100 more needed to seal a victory, the Indians were on the back foot at the start of the fourth day's play in Mirpur.
Things became far more difficult soon after as Jaydev Unadkat, Rishabh Pant, and Axar Patel all perished in the first seven overs of the morning, with India reeling at 74/7 and still requiring 71 runs to complete a clean sweep against Bangladesh.
At this stage, Ravichandran Ashwin walked out. Widely regarded as one of the toughest guys of the Indian cricket team, R Ashwin not only got the measure of the pitch but struck around with Shreyas Iyer to complete what was a sensational triumph for KL Rahul and his boys.
During their unbroken stand of 71, it was R Ashwin who was the aggressor with 42 runs while Shreyas Iyer kept things tight from the other end with an unbeaten knock of 29.
In the end, it was the partnership between Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer which proved to be the main difference between the two teams otherwise the series would have been tied at 1-1.
Though R Ashwin was instrumental in India's win, he had a bit of luck to thank because he was dropped by Bangladesh fielder Mominul Haque in the 34th over of the Indian innings.
After India's triumph, a Pakistan cricket fan took a swipe at Ravichandran Ashwin, telling him that he could only produce his match-winning innings because of the dropped catch.
“You should have handed this to Mominul Haque, Who dropped that dolly.. had he bagged it, India all out for 89 for sure… @ashwinravi99,” the Pakistan supporter commented on Ravichandran Ashwin's post after the match.
The India off-spinner replied to the Pakistan cricket admirer, “Oh no! I thought I blocked you, oh sorry that's the other guy. what's his name?? Yes Daniel Alexander that's the name!! Imagine what you both would do if India dint play cricket.”
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin credited his partnership with Shreyas Iyer for India's hard-fought three-wicket win.
“Game was on the line. I thought Bangladesh played really well. The game had to be won the hard way. Shreyas batted beautifully, if he wasn't the player of the series, I'd have shared this with him. In these situations, sometimes you feel you need to hit your way. They bowled well. But we needed to trust our defence. I wanted to get in and support Shreyas. Pitches were good, they were a touch slow. But the ball made a difference. The hosts put us under a lot of pressure. Good performances as well,” R Ashwin said.
After India avoided a shock loss in Mirpur, the legendary Virender Sehwag took to social media to describe his batting performance against Bangladesh.
“The scientist did it. Somehow got this one. Brilliant innings from Ashwin and wonderful partnership with Shreyas Iyer,” the former India opener tweeted.
Even India captain KL Rahul was in awe of Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer.
“You just trust the guys in the middle. There's always belief but there were nerves, we are human. But we trusted the batters out. Today, Ashwin and Shreyas did it with ease and style. Well done to them to earn India the win. We never thought it'd be a cakewalk, thought we need to grind and work hard for runs which Bangladesh did. It was tougher with the new ball. We lost more wickets than we'd have liked. We've made mistakes but will look to learn and hopefully put a better performance if a similar situation arises in the future. Happy with our bowling depth in the last 6-7 years. The series wins say a lot about how well we've groomed our pace attack. Ashwin and Axar have also done really well. Umesh put his hands up, Jaydev came in after a long time but bowled phenomenally well and probably deserved more wickets than he got. But the pressure helped Ashwin and Axar capitalise,” KL Rahul said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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