Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed the two batters he likes to get into competition within the fascinating game. Ashwin, who is representing Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, played his first match for the franchise against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He could not take any wicket but went quite economical, conceding 21 runs in his quota of 4 overs.
Ahead of his new franchise’s next game against Mumbai Indians (MI), Ashwin named two Indian superstars he loves ‘going head-on’ with. The Chennai-born cricketer named Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the two batters he enjoys bowling against.
Ashwin addressed Kohli and Rohit as high-quality batters who don’t like getting out easily. The offie said that he enjoys competition and always looks forward to playing against both the top-quality batters.
“I love going head-on with Virat and Rohit, to be honest. I think they are two quality batters that have played with me inside the dressing room, not two batters that I have got repeated contests against at an international arena,” Ashwin said on ESPNcricinfo‘s show ‘Polite Enquiries’.
“But I get to go against them in the IPL format, so I love going up against them. They don’t like getting out to bowlers inside the team, so I enjoy the contest and look forward to it every year,” he added.
In 168 IPL games, Ashwin has taken 145 wickets at an average of 27.95, with 4/34 being his best bowling figures. Before being bought by the Royals, Ashwin was a part of the Delhi Capitals (DC) squad, but he was released by the Rishabh Pant-led franchise ahead of the 2022 mega-auction.
