Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar called out the team management's double standard over the years as he reckoned Ravichandran Ashwin was repeatedly ignored for a place in the playing XI over “team balance.” Gavaskar's statement came days after Ashwin suddenly ended his international career midway through the ongoing Test series in Australia.
Taking to his column in Midday, Gavaskar said that with cricket being a “batter's game,” Ashwin, who holds the world record for the most Player of the Series award won, alongside Muttiah Muralitharan, failed earn enough recognition for his all-round abilities.
“Cricket being a batters’ game, the fact that he invariably won the Player of the Series award didn’t win him kudos among the batters' fraternity. Every time there was even a five percent excuse to leave him out of the eleven, it was grabbed avidly with the excuse of team balance,” he wrote.
The India batting legend further claimed that a similar selection procedure was not applied for batters as it was for bowlers, wherein, Ashwin was often omitted from the playing XI over pitch conditions.
Gavaskar added: “At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew that without him, they could not win the game. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC number one-ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top-ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions?”
Ashwin ‘denied honour, captaincy’
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar added: “At home, there was no way he could be left out because the management knew that without him, they could not win the game. If the excuse was that the pitch and conditions wouldn’t suit the ICC number one-ranked bowler, how come the same excuse was not used for the batters even if they were not top-ranked by ICC, but who struggled in similar pitches and conditions?”
Ashwin ‘denied honour, captaincy’
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar also blamed the BCCI and their selection committee for not recognising Ashwin's leadership abilities, nor showing him the honour with a farewell match. However, he hailed India captain Rohit Sharma for his act during Ashwin's 100th Test match.
“Ashwin would have made a fine captain for India, but he was denied even the honor of being the vice-captain. There was an opportunity to give him the belated honour even if it was for a token Test match and a limited-overs bilateral series, but that also was denied to him. That’s why it was so good to see Rohit Sharma ask him to lead the team out on his 100th Test match,” he said.