Sanjay Manjrekar has "problems accepting Ashwin as a real all time great"

Manjrekar doesn’t regard Ashwin as great: Team India’s ace off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is considered as one of the finest spinners in modern day cricket. The 34 year old has struck his authority especially in Test Cricket, as he is the second quickest to pick 400 Test wickets from just 77 appearances in the longest format of the game. As a result of his remarkable achievements, Ashwin is also regarded as a ‘great’ by some cricket fans and experts.

However, former batsman turned broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar belongs to a different school of thought. Manjrekar doesn’t categorize Ashwin as an ‘all time great’, as he feels it’s the nature of the wickets at home that have a big say in Ashwin claiming wickets.

Sanjay Manjrekar’s controversial take on Ravi Ashwin

“When people start talking about him as being one of the all-time greats of the game then I have a few problems. One basic problem I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA countries, Ashwin doesn’t have a single five-wicket haul there,” Manjrekar recently stated.

He also went onto say that Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel have been equally lethal in recent times on such wickets, which is why Ashwin isn’t a great in Manjrekar’s books.

“And the other thing when you talk about him running through sides on Indian pitches that are suited to his kind of bowling is that in the last four years, Jadeja has matched him with wicket-taking abilities. Then, interestingly, in the last series against England, Axar Patel got more wickets than Ashwin on similar pitches. So that is my problem with accepting Ashwin as a real all-time great”, he added.

From the 409 total wickets in Test match cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin has picked up 123 wickets from 31 Tests away from home. In spite of varied opinions, Ashwin continues to remain one of the key members for Team India in Test Cricket.

ICC WTC Final Date

His next assignment will be a big one, as he takes on New Zealand in the ICC WTC Finals. The final will take place at the Ages Bowl Stadium, Southampton from June 18 to 22, with an additional sixth day on the card as an option too.

WTC Final India Squad

Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed. Shami, Mohammed. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul

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