“He has not been celebrated as much as he should be as an all-rounder” – Ramiz Raja hails Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Pakistan batter Ramiz Raja has showered praise on Ravichandran Ashwin after his fine performance against Bangladesh in a two-match Test series. Raja reckons Ashwin is not been celebrated as much as he should be as an all-rounder. 

Ashwin was awarded Player of the Series for the 11th time in Test cricket, equaling legendary Muttiah Muralitharan’s record. Ashwin scored 114 runs in two innings at an average of 57 and also scalped 11 wickets in the series against Bangladesh, the joint-most with Jasprit Bumrah.

The right-hander scored a match-winning knock of 113 runs at his home ground in Chennai in the opening Test. Ashwin joined forces with Jadeja when India was reeling at 144-6 and he was able to add a fine alliance of 199 runs with the left-hander.

Furthermore, he returned with impressive figures of 6-88 in the second essay and thus bagged the Player of the Match award.

Ramiz Raja said on his YouTube Channel, “He (Ashwin) has not been celebrated as much as he should be as an all-rounder. If you look at his record, he is not less than anyone. He is a no-nonsense cricketer, takes everything in his stride. Even when he is the 12th man or is out of the team, there are no tantrums. He understands the team’s situation and his responsibility.”

“Whenever he gets a chance, he plays brilliantly. There is a lot to learn from Ashwin. He is opinionated but not like he does a lot of critical analysis of anything off the field. He has an intelligent take on the game, which shows in his comments,” he added.

On the other hand, Raja feels the performance of Pakistan players goes on a high but then slides down, which has led to inconsistency of the team.

“We have seen how these two – Ashwin and Jadeja have grown in the game. In Pakistan, the performance of players plateaus and then slides down. There are a lot of examples of that in our country. But India’s great success story is that their players go on a learning curve and then continue to ascend for a long time. They don’t plateau or fall off because they know there is a lot of competition sitting on the bench, players who can challenge them,” said Ramiz.

India will next take on Bangladesh in the opening T20I at the New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium, Gwalior on Sunday.