India's legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin mocked the award ceremonies of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2025 for not considering a recognition to the bowlers ahead of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clash.
Ashwin said that in IPL award ceremonies, almost 50 per cent of both teams receives some sort of award, but if someone bowls really well, they don't get any award.
"In the IPL presentation show, there are at least 10 awards that they give out to people. In fact 50 per cent of both teams receives some sort of award. But if someone bowls well, delivers a good over, they don't even get a single award,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel
"You have the super striker, super fours, super sixes, it's all there. Super ball isn't there. One time there was a fastest ball award. That ball might have been hit for a six but the person will still get the award.”
He also quipped: "Itna door nahin hai ki bowler ball leke bhaag jayega ground se bahar (It's not so far that the bowler will run away from the ground with the ball.) Agar mein ball nahin daalunga toh aap maaroge kaise? (If I don't deliver the ball then how will you hit it?)"
Ashwin has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket in Australia after the third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He was picked by CSK in the IPL 2025 mega-auction happened in Saudi Arabia. The Chennai-based franchise played their IPL 2025 opener clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) where Ashwin picked one wicket. CSK defeated MI by four wickets. Now, CSK will take on RCB for their second clash, which will take place on March 28 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.