Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made a comeback to limited-overs setup after he recently played warm-up games of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Ashwin played both the matches against England and Australia, which the Virat Kohli-led side won by seven and nine wickets, respectively.
Ashwin looked in good touch during the second game against Australia on Wednesday. The Tamil Nadu cricketer bowled two overs and picked up two wickets while giving away only 8 runs. However, in the first warm-up game against England, Ashwin looked a bit unsettled.
The right-armer bowled all his four overs but failed to pick up any wicket and ended up conceding 23 runs. During that match, Indian wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant tried to motivate Ashwin to fulfil his desires of bowling a leg-cutter.
Notably, Ashwin is known for his variations, and he often bamboozles batters with different spinning deliveries.
“Are, leg spin daal do Ash bhai. Yahi mauka hai, yahi dastoor hai, leg spin dalne ka (laughs). Armaan pure karne ka yahi mauka hai,” Pant was heard saying from behind the stumps.
Here is the video:
https://twitter.com/pant_fc/status/1450127670721744903
Speaking about Pant, he scored an unbeaten 29 off 14 balls with the help of one four and three sixes to get India over the finish line against England.
Although the southpaw didn’t get a chance to bat in the second warm-up game against Australia, he was spotted learning some crucial keeping tips from none other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is Team India’s mentor for the multi-team event.
The cameras captured Dhoni giving wicketkeeping lessons to Pant when the play was halted for a few minutes due to sight-screen issues. The former India skipper was also spotted interacting with Pant while standing near the Indian team’s dugout.
