Virender Sehwag vehemently disagrees with Ravichandran Ashwin’s take on the importance of wickets in T20 cricket.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been in the news recently for his takes on where T20 cricket is going based on the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) and for the fact that he hasn’t been among the wickets this season for the Rajasthan Royals. Ashwin has said that he plays as more of a holding bowler for RR than a wicket-taking one and that the latter seems to be becoming increasingly irrelevant in the format.
Sehwag said that Ashwin might struggle to find a team in the next IPL auction
Ashwin had said that technology used by sides seem to indicate that taking wickets is becoming increasingly inferior to containing runs. However, former India batter Virender Sehwag has said that this only reflects Ashwin’s mindset and that a bowler who cannot take wickets won’t find a place in a team that he is coaching or mentoring.
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“All his competitors – (Yuzvendra) Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav or anyone else – are getting the wickets. He thinks if he bowls off spin then anyone will hit him. Which is why he bowls his carrom bowl, which is why he is not getting any wickets. Maybe if he believes in his off spin or doosra, he can bag more wickets. But that’s his mindset,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz. Ashwin has taken just two wickets this season in eight matches and he has maintained an economy of nine thus far.
“But if I were a mentor or a coach of a franchise, I wouldn’t think like that. If my bowler is thinking about saving runs and not taking wickets, he won’t find a place in the team,” he added.
‘He may not get picked in the auction next year’
“Sometimes even when you bowl well, you go for 40 runs. Many teams these days use AI and technology and what’s emerged out of those is that wicket-taking is becoming irrelevant in T20 cricket. If you look at this IPL wicket-taking is sometimes hampering certain teams,” Ashwin had said.
Sehwag, however, compared what the veteran spinner said to Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul stating last year the importance of a batter’s strike rate in T20 cricket is “overrated”.
“This is the same as when KL Rahul had said that the strike rate is overrated. Same thing. He said it for batting, Ashwin has said it for bowling that it doesn’t matter if you get the wickets. If his stats aren’t good, then he may not even get picked in the auction next year. When you pick a bowler, do you expect him to give away 25-30 runs or do you expect him to give you wickets and become man of the match twice or thrice?” said Sehwag.
