Skipper Virat Kohli, during a pre-tournament media interaction organised by the ICC, justified off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection in India’s T20 World Cup squad. He said that the Delhi Capitals player has been rewarded for his courage against big-hitters.

Ravi Ashwin will be set to make a comeback into the white-ball international cricket after being sidelined for four years. The 35-year-old last played a limited overs game for India in July 2017. He and fellow spinner Ravindra Jadeja were then effectively replaced by the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Interestingly, neither Chahal nor Yadav have been selected for the 2021 T20 World Cup while Ashwin and Jadeja made it to the squad. 

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Talking about Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection, Kohli said,” One thing that Ashwin has improved a lot is bowling with a lot of courage in white ball cricket if you saw the last two years IPL, he has bowled the difficult overs and bowled against top players, the likes of Polly (Pollard) and power-hitters and not being shy to put the ball in right areas.”

He further added that the off-spinner has been bowling with variations. 

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“Ashwin believed in his skill sets. He was bowling with variations and control over the pace and when he was at his confident best, these guys can go in there and change the game themselves. Finger spinners are now in vogue.”

Ashwin picked seven wickets in the 13 IPL games he played in 2021. Last year, he had finished the season with 13 scalps in 15 games. 

“Ashwin has been rewarded for reviving his white ball skills and he was regular feature for us back in the day then fell off a bit because wrist spinners were in demand mostly but now finger spinners with accuracy have come back in the game.”

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“I think we also have to evolve as a team and with evolving trend of the game, Ash and the likes of him and Jadeja, performing with a lot of courage augurs well for the team. You can also be very consistent as finger spinners and know what to do in what situations,” the skipper seemed confident.

India start their World Cup campaign against archrivals Pakistan on October 24.