"He has not been celebrated as much as he should be as an all-rounder" - Ramiz Raja hails Ravichandran Ashwin
Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja hailed India's off-spinning all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin while stating the Tamil Nadu cricketer isn't celebrated as much as he should for his incredible achievements. The 38-year-old recently won his 11th Player of the Series award in Tests for his heroics in the home series against Bangladesh, drawing him level with Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ashwin finished as the joint-leading wicket-taker with 11 scalps and averaged 57 with the bat, including a game-changing century in the first Test at Chennai.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ramiz was quoted as saying by TOI:
"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.
Ashwin is the only cricketer with over 500 Test wickets and six centuries with the bat - evidence of his extraordinary all-round achievements in Test cricket.
"In Pakistan, the performance of players plateaus and then slides down" - Ramiz Raja
Ramiz Raja took the examples of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to highlight the difference between Indian and Pakistan players' career curves.
Ashwin and Jadeja have established themselves as two of the best Test all-rounders in cricket history, helping India become a dominant force over the past decade.
"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.
While India have been on a winning surge across formats, Pakistan have hit rock bottom over the past year.
The Men in Green suffered a shocking first-round exit in the 2024 T20 World Cup followed by an embarrassing 0-2 home Test series loss to Bangladesh.