Gambhir terms Ashwin unlucky to not play ODIs and T20Is for India

Ravi Ashwin has hogged all the limelight since the Australia tour thanks to his all-round show in Tests. It was his heroic effort with the bat in Sydney along with Hanuma Vihari that India escaped with a draw. He continued his serene form in the Chennai Test against England smashing his fifth Test ton a few days ago.

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But the ace off-spinner has only been playing in the longest format of the game since 2017. Team India backed the wrist spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav then and one of them keeps playing in the XI in ODIs and T20Is. But former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels Ashwin is just unlucky that he is still not being considered to make a comeback in the shorter formats.

“Someone who is coming close to taking 400 wickets and the same time getting five Test hundreds and still not being part of the white-ball scheme of things is very unfortunate. He is just a class act,” Gambhir said while speaking in Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Gautam Gambhir was all praise of Ravi Ashwin looking at his bowling records and overall as a cricket player. “He is just a quality bowler and his subtle variations. The amount of cricket he has played and the longevity he has played with and still the kind of impact he has had, it is just unbelievable,” he further added.

At the same time, Ashish Nehra also lauded Ashwin for his amazing ability to read the game well and pointed out the impact he has made with bat and ball especially in Tests at home. “This is not the first time that Ravichandran Ashwin has made such a big impact when you are playing at home. When you talk about how he is so different, first thing of course he has so much experience and so much confidence when you are playing at home, when he knows these wickets are going to be helpful to him,” Nehra said.