Ranchi: Legendary Sunil Gavaskar made a special request to Rohit Sharma asking the Indian captain to allow Ravichandran Ashwin to lead the side in the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala which starts on March 7. Already 2-1 up in the series, India need 152 runs with all 10 wickets in hand to win the ongoing fourth Test match in Ranchi and ensure a series win.
This isn’t the first time Gavaskar wanted to see Ashwin leading the Test side. A couple of years before, Gavaskar wished the same but that didn’t materialize. While Ashwin wasn’t given a chance to lead India in the longest format, Gavaskar wants the off-spinner to be allowed to lead in his 100th Test as a mark of respect to the Tamil Nadu cricketer who made his debut in 2011.
“India win tomorrow and you go to Dharamsala. I just hope that Rohit allows you to lead the team out to the field when. That will be a wonderful gesture, wonderful honour for all that you’ve done for Indian cricket,” Gavaskar said on Sunday after the end of third day’s play.
However, as usual, Ashwin wants to focus on the job at hand and win the Test match and series for India. “Sunny bhai, you’re being too generous. Thank you so much. I have no expectations out of all these things. I think I’m well past all that but genuinely saying I’m enjoying every single moment that I am being with this team and the longer it lasts, I will be very happy,” replied Ashwin.
A true giant of the game, Ashwin is currently playing his 99th Test with 507 wickets, 35 five-wicket hauls, 24 four-wicket hauls, 3000 runs and five hundreds. Be it becoming the No.1 Test bowler to playing the World Test Championship finals, Ashwin has been a part of all India’s major achievements in his career so far. And when the fifth Test starts, the right-hander will join the likes of Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara in the rare list of Indians to play 100 Test matches.
Ashwin also heaped praise for Kuldeep Yadav who took 4/22 in England’s second innings with crucial wickets of Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes. “I loved the way Kuldeep bowled today, he was brilliant, the way he changed the trajectory, change of pace, the dip he got — I think he’s double the bowler now. I took away a 5-wicket haul from him,” Ashwin said.
“It was hard on him yesterday, we sent him to bat early, but he showed a lot of technique and guile, we batted almost the entire first session. We would have taken a deficit of 70-80 runs when we went back to the hotel yesterday, we would have taken it.”
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