Despite a dismal show in the Champions Trophy, Ashwin finds skipper Kohli's backing

WHILE THE Indian pacers fared reasonably well in the recently concluded Champions Trophy in England, the spinners, especially Ravi Ashwin disappointed in many ways. 

After being dropped in the initial few games in the group stages, the offie was brought back into the team and managed to play the rest of the matches, including the finals against arch-rivals Pakistan. 

Unfortunately though, Ashwin bagged only one wicket in the three games he played and also continued to struggle in the field. Furthermore, in his last 10 ODIs, the TamilNadu spinner has only picked 9 wickets. 

Despite his recent slump in form with the while ball, skipper Virat Kohli has come out in strong support for his leading spinner. Upon asked whether Ashwin needs to rethink his strategy, Kohli after the finals at the Oval opined, 

"Every spinner has challenges on flat decks and every spinner could go for runs. Especially on wickets like these, where if a batsman gets going, it really becomes difficult for the spinner and people are slogging across the line and getting away with it."

"You can't really do much as a spinner because you are making them play where you want to play, but still, they are executing those shots." 

Kohli further explained how the process matters more than the result.

"It is not humanly possible to not concede boundaries and sixes. You have to understand whether you made the batsman hit where you wanted him to hit and take a risk, or you have bowled a bad ball. I think that's the only analysis a person needs to do and nothing more." 

Ashwin will now travel to the Caribbean to play the ODI series against West Indies and given the spinner friendly wickets there, it would be interesting to see how the veteran spinner goes. Another poor show could lead to some serious questions being asked. Possibly, even an exit from the current ODI line-up. 
 

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