"Averaging and striking more than Rohit and Virat!" - Fans shocked as Ravichandran Ashwin slams maiden IPL half-century

Fans hailed Ravichandran Ashwin for showing great improvement as a batter in T20s. (P.C.:iplt20.com)

Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin's promotion to No. 3 seemed to work wonders as he brought up his first half-century of the IPL against the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Wednesday, May 11.

RR lost the wicket of the dangerous Jos Buttler early on and quite a few eyebrows were raised when Ashwin walked out to bat at No. 3. After taking a few deliveries to get himself in, he took advantage of the powerplay restrictions and gave his IPL team much-needed momentum.

Fans on Twitter were both shocked and happy to see Ravichandran Ashwin contribute with the bat. His 50 (38) helped RR post a fighting total of 160/6 on a pitch that was not the easiest to bat on.

Here's how the fans reacted:

Stance by Ravi Ashwin. https://t.co/pwbCTe7j31

People laughed at Gambhir for saying India can try Ashwin at 4. Visionary through and through

Ashwin this season https://t.co/UraWLhv5tm

Albeit unconventional but RR making full use of Ashwin 😅 #RRvDC #IPL2022 https://t.co/6RZiAxbeIA

Celebration when Ashwin completed fifty against Delhi. https://t.co/zXfZGxr5VX

Only thing left for Ashwin to surprise us in IPL is a catch like this. #IPL https://t.co/Szu4Sl7WBR

Ashwin is a good batsman, but usse 50 run kaun khata hai t20s mein.

Using Ashwin as a top order batter in the PP (which is the only phase in which he could even theoretically be of use as a T20 bat) to extend your shallow batting line up is one of the best tactical ploys in this IPL.

Forget Jos, Ashwin is good enough for this lot.

Ashwin's batting stats this season - 26.20 avg with a strike rate of 142 😂

Promoting @ashwinravi99 to no.3 is one of the cool move in this ipl.His timing on the shots are bliss to watch👀🚀⚡With fielders inside the circle!.
#RRvsDC #ashwin

The kind of guy Ashwin is he’s probably been putting in more hours batting practice than the batters in the team, finding ways to make this new role work even if he doesn’t have all the skills for it

Ashwin has scored 133 runs in IPL 2022 at a strike rate of 144 and average of 22.16 - he also has 9 wickets.

Ashwin has scored more runs than jaddu this season🤣🤣🤣

Ashwin can now match the average height of DC players https://t.co/qULVhrizzl

Ashwin with a 50(37) on a two paced pitch,most current Indian top orders Batters can only dream of that.

#IPL2022

Ashwin has played an excellent innings here. He's batted 5 overs at a run rate of 8 when team's run rate after 12 overs is under 7. And this is a difficult to pitch to bat on. The ball is stopping and coming.

Jadeja took 132 innings to score his 1st IPL FIFTY.
But Ashwin did in just 72 innings

Well played matchaa. #Ashwin

RR don't have batting depth. So to make up for it, they have been promoting Ashwin in situations where there is low risk, and high reward. Plus Ashwin's game awareness makes sure that they get rewarded for it. Ashwin didn't try attacking Nortje, he attacked Shardul & Axar and twitter.com/MTapree/status…

No ways Ashwin has as many fifties as Roet and Birat combined at a better strike rate

Ashwin batting stance mei hockey penalty corner kyu le raha hai?

Sadly I don't think it'll get the credit it deserves because Ashwin simply isn't a good enough T20 batsman to make it work to any significant degree and the cliched commentariat who believe "the best player must face most balls" will obviously snigger at it. Unfortunate.

Ashwin jab bacche the tab hi unhe driving licence Mila Gaya tha.@cricketaakash ji wah commentry king .

Maiden IPL fifty by Ravi Ashwin. Batted at No.3 tonight and played a brilliant hand, terrific by Ash.

Even ashwin has an IPL fifty this year

Pic unrelated https://t.co/1evvWaFV2X

Brilliant knock from Ashwin. Was sent in to pinch hit, but has anchored pretty much to perfection and has now allowed DDP, Samson, RvD & Parag go to big in last 6. twitter.com/gurkiratsgill/…

50s this season

Ashwin 1
Rohit 0

Went low on his stance, but he was aiming high. Way to go @ashwinravi99 #TataIPL #RRvsDC

Ashwin is a better powerplay batsman than many, plays with a nothing to lose approach and has got batting quality to take bowlers on.

Ravichandran Ashwin with a pretty good knock here. First IPL fifty for him. That too off just 38 balls and gets dismissed at the right time too. Perfect entry point for the likes of Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag to come in and accelerate.

#RRvDC

And Ashwin brings up his fifty, in 37 balls. So far he has found a way to get the boundary just when it was getting away, top knock. He can swing at every ball from here. Well played.

Ashwin in this IPL :
#RRvsDC https://t.co/5C4QqFeWRO

Can't question Ashwin's commitment though, guy tries his best in every aspect even though he might not be very skillfull at a particular thing.

This is Ashwin Anna's world. We are simply living in it. What a knock, what a player. A sheer delight for any team #IPL2022 #RRvDC

FIFTY for @ashwinravi99 off 37 deliveries 👏👏

Live - bit.ly/TataIpl-2022-58 #RRvDC #TATAIPL https://t.co/URuuIDfIyp

Powerplay
Ashwin 21 off 13
Others 20 off 23

Next 6 overs
Ashwin 20 off 18
Others 20 off 18

In all 3 Departments Ravi Ashwin Showing his progression in t20s, I have never seen him like this in T20 format, He impressed me a lot with the batting & fielding

#IPL2022
#CricketTwitter
#RRvsDC

R Ashwin just after scoring half century 😜 #RRvsDC #DCvsRR https://t.co/5ckxnpO9Dv

Should be Common Knowledge
Ashwin>>>>>Tuk Tuk https://t.co/Idae8aF51u

R Ashwin balancing his both bowling and batting performance 😎

#RRvsDC #DCvRR #DCvsRR https://t.co/gw4v4kRUVH

Nothing just a pic of world's greatest allrounder.

#Ashwin https://t.co/kORqTXSRzk

The sharpest cricket brain I rate after MSD is non other than Ravi Ashwin. You can't argue with this,he proved it most often!.Most improved across format cricketer in recent years with his maiden T-20 half century...👏👏.A relieved @prithinarayanan 😅
#RavichandranAshwin #RRvsDC https://t.co/ij5y9DnL8Z

Ashwin is just brilliant. Brilliant in assessing what needed in the situation. Extremely high cricketing IQ. #IPL2022

Ashwin anchoring better than the designated "unbelievable anchoring" anchor 🙃

Pic 1 - R Ashwin’s batting performance in the tail end

Pic 2 - #Ashwin when get promoted in the batting order 😎

#RRvsDC #DCvRR #DCvsRR https://t.co/qo3ycS96v4

Ashwin averaging and Striking more than Rohit and Virat this season.
😭

@WasimJaffer14 Nobody saw this coming. Ravichandran Ashwin raising his bat in #IPL2022 !!!

Out of the blue stuff. ASH-TOUNDING Knock from Ashwin.

Well Played, @ashwinravi99 👏

#RRvsDC #RRvDC #Ashwin https://t.co/l37mijlrko

Ravichandran Ashwin, Padikkal take RR to a respectable total

Unlike the last game, Yashasvi Jaiswal took a bit of time to get going. After losing Buttler early on, it was Ashwin who had to take the attack to the opposition and he succeeded in doing so to a certain extent.

Devdutt Padikkal has been inconsistent of late and his strike rate has always been under the scanner, especially in the middle overs. This time, however, he maintained the tempo of the RR innings and gave Ashwin good support from the other end.

Ashwin did slow down a bit in the middle, but then played some big shots to end his innings with a respectable strike rate. His 53-run stand with Padikkal gave RR a good platform to tee off in the last few overs.

Chetan Sakariya, Anrich Nortje and Mitchell Marsh each picked up a couple of wickets and it certainly had an effect on RR's final score. But with the kind of bowling attack that they have, the Royals would still believe that they have a chance to defend 161 on a slightly drier pitch.

DC, on the other hand, will need a good start after their drubbing at the hands of the Chennai Super Kings while chasing in the last game.

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