Ashwin has not been handled properly by team management, says Maninder Singh

Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh feels that the Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin‘s cricket career is going to end as he is looking to bowl defensively because of not being handled properly by the team management.

Ashwin has been in poor form for some time now and he unveiled a new bowling action in the ongoing Asia Cup 2014, but it didn’t bring much difference for the bowler.

“He has been trying so many variations. It generally happens that when you try too many things then you lose your originality and that is what is happening, and that is the worry for me,” Maninder said.

“For me, Ashwin is a match-winner. He can win you matches whether they are Test matches or One-Day Internationals (ODIs) or Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). But everything has gone haywire with him. I don’t know what the bowling coach has been doing with him, and what the main coach and captain have been doing with him. If I was around, I would not have allowed [his bowling to slip] that so far that he had to change his action,” he added.

“Someone has got to tell him that you were picked in the Indian side because you showed that intent that you wanted to get wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in 20-overs games,” he said.

“Then you come into a Test match and after the Australia series (last year), I read somewhere, he said ‘my role was to restrict’. Now who has given him that idea? It’s the captain,” Maninder opined.

“So I think he is not being handled properly. Somebody who came into the Indian side because he had the capability and the urge to take wickets, he was eager to take wickets in 20-overs cricket, becomes defensive in Test cricket where you are supposed to take wickets…Something is going wrong somewhere, someone is giving him the wrong advice,” he added.

The former left-arm-spinner said Ashwin needs a good coach to bring his career back on track.

“The BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] has to wake up and get a proper bowling coach who can assist our bowlers. It’s not only Ashwin, Jadeja, you know he has got his limitations but he is real talent himself as well. You’ve got to have a proper guide for these kids, who can tell them what is right and what is not.

“Someone has got to keep talking to these kids and stop them from thinking negatively. What needs to be urgently addressed is what is happening with the bowling coach. We had Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling an Australian length; he’s someone who pitches the ball up and takes wickets, but he has stopped swinging the ball,” he said.

“The urgent requirement is to look for somebody, a bowling coach who can guide our bowlers properly. And get a proper spinner guide for the spinners, we don’t want to lose them quickly,” he added.