Ravichandran Ashwin has been in the news during this year’s IPL. The captain of Kings XI Punjab mankaded Jos Buttler in his first game when the Rajasthan Royals’ batsman was going all guns blazing. The off-spinner received massive criticism as his run out was deemed to be against the spirit of the game.
Then, in the next game against Kolkata Knight Riders, he made a captaincy error. During KKR’s batting, Andre Russell was fresh at the crease during the death overs. Mohammed Shami bowled a terrific yorker that castled the KKR batsman. But the umpire signaled a no-ball as there were just 3 fielders inside the 30-yard circle. Russell went on to score 48 from just 17 balls that propelled his side to 218. KXIP lost the match by 28 runs.
The third match for KXIP and Ashwin is in the headlines again. Against Mumbai Indians in Mohali, he opted to field first after winning the toss. The spinner decided to take the new ball and bowled the first over against the opposition skipper Rohit Sharma.
However, he ended up delivering 7 balls in the over. It was unusual as everyone outside the ground was confused. The confusion was cleared afterward. When Ashwin delivered the first ball, Rohit played a shot toward the off-side. But apparently, he wasn’t ready. As a result, it was called a dead ball. It was a weird decision because it didn’t seem like the batsman wasn’t ready.
Ashwin had to bowl the extra delivery. Off the last ball, Quinton de Kock played a cut shot that traveled to the boundary. The extra delivery cost him 4 runs. In the end, Ashwin had figures of 26/0 from 4 overs. KXIP went on to win the match as they chased down the score of 176 quite comfortably in the end. They now have 2 victories from 3 matches.
