Ravichandran Ashwin hits back at Michael Vaughan for his ‘underachieving Indian team’ remark

After India’s innings and 32 runs against South Africa in the first Test, former England skipper Michael Vaughan called India an underachieving team. However, in the next game, the Asian side managed to finish the series 1-1 as they won the second game. With this, for the first time since the 2010-11 series, India leveled a Test series against the Proteas.

Meanwhile, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has replied to Vaughan’s statements. The former said that the team calls themselves the powerhouse of the game. He added that the team is the best traveling team.

“Michael Vaughan made a statement after the first Test that India is an underachieving team. Yes, we haven’t won world 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.

The two-time World Event winner added that he started laughing after reading the 2005 Ashes-winning captain.

“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. 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.”

I feel we criticize and nit-pick too much: Ravichandran Ashwin

“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 criticise and nitpick too much and get into unnecessary details. I think these are blinding us,” said Ashwin.