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Ravichandran Ashwin calls out Michael Vaughan over ‘Underachievers’ swipe
Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has hit out at Michael Vaughan over his recent comments. The former English skipper had called India an underachieving side for their inability to win global tournaments. Vaughan while speaking to Mark Waugh during the recent Australia vs Pakistan series made some serious comments.
The former English skipper alluded to the fact that India had lost two finals in 2023. Rohit Sharma saw Australia win both the World Test Championship (WTC) and ODI World Cup finals. Not taking kindly to these comments Ravichandran Ashwin took to his YouTube channel. The 37-year-old was part of the Indian team which was in South Africa recently. Rohit Sharma and his men created by beating the home team in Cape Town inside two days.
Ravichandran Ashwin slams Michael Vaughan’s comments
As India versus England gets closer there is a huge war of words taking place. Ravichandran Ashwin has hit out at former England skipper Michael Vaughan on his YouTube Channel.
The Indian spinner said “Michael Vaughan made a statement after the first Test that India is an underachieving team. Yes, we haven’t won trophies for years. We call ourselves the powerhouses of the game. But the Test team has been one of the best travelling teams in the vicinity. We have seen many great results”
Ravichandran Ashwin also took a dig at the Indian experts who seemed to agree with Vaughan’s statements. “After he said that, so many experts from our own country started questioning if India is an underachieving team. Frankly, it made me laugh. Picture yourself. Just reverse the situation.”
Giving an example of the recently concluded series, Ashwin made a huge point, “SA batted first in this Test after winning the toss. If SA had batted first after winning the toss in Centurion, wasn’t there a chance they could have gotten all out by 65? Even India was staring at the barrel at 20/3, thanks to Virat and Shreyas’ partnership from there to save us.”
The Chennai spin wizard is five short of playing his 100th Test for India during the England series. Ashwin has picked 490 Test wickets and is set to become the 2nd fastest to reach the 500-wicket mark. Anil Kumble leads the pack with 619 wickets and Ashwin will become the second India to cross the 500 hurdle.
India’s star spinner also said “So, both cricket and Test cricket are differentiated by fine margins. In a country like India, where we talk cricket in every nook and cranny and consider the sport a religion, I feel we criticize and nitpick too much and get into unnecessary details. I think these are blinding us,”