Ravichandran Ashwin is a legend in his own right but he needs to think about bowling the conventional out-break deliveries more frequently, feels Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara. The 36-year-old veteran off-spinner is India's second-highest Test wicket-taker (442 wickets), and is known to experiment a lot with his bowling. He bowls the conventional off-breaks lesser than the carrom balls that spin away from the right-handers.
“Ash (Ashwin) has done a great job for us," Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference after RR lost to Gujarat Titans (GT) by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Sunday, May 29.
"Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of improvements and thinking to do, especially with his off-spinners and bowl more of it," Sangakkara commented about the team's oldest member, who could manage only 12 wickets in 17 games this season. In the summit clash, the veteran off-spinner bowled quite a few carrom balls instead of regulation off-spin. He gave away 32 runs in three overs without a single wicket while defending a modest 130.
Opting to bat first, RR were restricted to 130/9, which was chased by GT in 18.1 overs and Sangakkara felt the score was never going to be enough. “It was a tough one. 130 was never enough. We were debating whether to put them in (to bat) first as well. By the time we arrived at the ground, we looked at the pitch, it was pretty dry and 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," he said.
“We were really well-set in our batting innings at 70/1 at the halfway mark until Sanju (Samson) got out. And then they came and bowled some beautiful overs and we let Gujarat back into the game. With 130, we need a bit of luck and some quick wickets in the powerplay. We did get two but unfortunately, we didn’t get (Shubman) Gill in that first over and the run rate never went above seven.
"It was always going to be tough. It was hardly about calculations and maths and just about trying and getting a couple of wickets and breakthroughs that (David) Miller and Hardik (Pandya) and Gill partnerships, but we were unable to do it,” conceded the Sri Lankan legend.
