Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the greatest spinners India has ever produced. Ashwin has not backed away from sharing his learnings of the trade with youngsters whether they are local or overseas players. One such player is Sri Lanka’s Vijayakanth Viyaskanth. The young leg-spinner after receiving the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his performance in Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023 opener shared that he chats with Ashwin on Instagram daily and also got a message from the veteran before the game.
“We are talking on Instagram daily. Today also I told him I was playing, he messaged good luck. Every time we talk we are talking friendly,” Viyaskanth told the broadcasters on July 30.
Defending a total of 173 against Colombo Strikers, the Jaffna Kings leggie was introduced into the attack in the ninth over. In his first over he conceded just three runs and broke the third-wicket partnership He got Nuwanidu Fernando out caught and bowled.
He was brought back into the attack in the 13th over. He conceded just four runs. In the next over, he got hit for the only boundary in his spell by Strikers all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne. In the 17th over, Yashodha Lanka got run out, Naseem Shah got out for a three-ball duck on his LPL debut. Shah got stumped trying to slog. He ended up conceding just 17 runs from his quota of four overs.
His economical spell helped defending champions Kings win by 21 runs as Strikers got all out for 152 with two balls left in the innings.
Earlier, Babar Azam failed on his LPL debut. Apart from skipper Niroshan Dickwella's 34-ball 58 and Karunaratne's cameo, other batters failed in the run chase. For Kings, there were valuable contributions throughout but Bangladesh batter Towhid Hridoy's 39-ball 54 stood out as it helped them post 173/5 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Earlier this year, Ashwin had lauded Viyaskanth for his performance in his Youtube show. He revealed that former Sri Lankan cricketer-turned-commentator Russel Arnold requested him to contact the youngster.
“He is as tall as me and is someone who bowls in a flatter trajectory,” Ashwin had said about the emerging player of the tournament of LPL’s previous season.
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