AHMEDABAD: By all accounts, it was a decent IPL for R Ashwin. Forging perhaps the best spin combination with leggie Yuzvendra Chahal for the Rajasthan Royals, the ace off-spinner took 12 wickets in 17 games @ 41.91 (ER 7.50).
What added to his utility in the T20 format was his new-found love for batting. Promoted up the order, unexpectedly at times, he did more than a decent job, scoring 191 runs @ 27. 28, with a strike rate of 141.48, notching up his maiden IPL fifty in the bargain.
However, it's his poor show in the playoffs just one wicket in three games while conceding 103 runs in 11 overs which will rankle. In the final against Gujarat Titans, with the team defending just 130, Ashwin cracked under pressure. Introduced in the 12th over, Ashwin chose to bowl a few carrom balls rather than stick to his conventional off-spin. One such delivery was hit by Hardik Pandya for six over long-on. Ashwin conceded 32 in three overs while failing to take a wicket.
After his team lost the final by seven wickets, Rajasthan Royals director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara quipped that while Ashwin was a "legend on the cricketing pitch," he would need to work on bowling offspin more frequently. "Ash (Ashwin), he's done a great job for us. Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of thinking and improvements to do, especially with his off-spin and bowling more of it."
Sangakarra's observation was shared by ex-India opener Virender Sehwag too. "Ashwin should have stuck with his off-spin, because it was troubling the batters. Instead, he bowled his carrom balls. There was even a rough patch formed in the end that could have troubled Gill. He could have tried to dismiss Pandya as well like that. But his mindset is different as he tries to go for wickets with his variations," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Moving on from Ashwin, the Royals blundered in choosing to bat first in the IPl-2022 final. The pressure of the occasion seemed to have sucked them in as all they managed was 130 for nine in 20 overs. "It was a tough one. 130 was never enough. We were debating whether to put them in first as well. But by the time we arrived at the ground and looked at the pitch, it was dry. We thought it will get slower, and maybe offer a little-bit of turn for our spinners, so we were expecting to get about 160-165," said the former Sri Lankan captain.
"We were really well-set in our batting innings at 70/1 at the halfway mark until Sanju got out. And then they came and bowled some beautiful overs and we let Gujarat back into the game," he said.
Sangakkara confessed that the Royals need more from their "support-role players," especially their middle-order batsmen like Devdutt Padikkal and Riyan Parag.
