"Ashwin has completely forgotten he is an off-spinner!"- Furious fans slam RR spinner for shambolic bowling in IPL 2022 final
Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin didn't have a great day with the ball when his team needed him the most. The off-spinner gave away 32 runs in his three overs as the Gujarat Titans (GT) won their maiden title on debut.
GT skipper Hardik Pandya led from the front with the ball (3/17) and his crucial partnership with Shubman Gill set things up nicely for the Titans.
Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a brilliant spell to get rid of Pandya and the game could have been close had Ashwin struck from the other end. But the off-spinner dished out a number of freebies and the likes of David Miller weren't going to miss out on them.
Fans on Twitter slammed Ravichandran Ashwin for such a poor performance in an important final. Here are some of the reactions:
RR donโt have the luxury of a 6th bowler which GT had, to avoid giving the batters their strongest matchup which in this case was Ashwin. So they delayed and delayed and delayed Ashwin in hope one of these two would get out, the wicket never came
Most IPL Finals Lost
6 - MS Dhoni
5 - Ravi Ashwin*
5 - Suresh Raina
#GTvRR
Hardik Pandya has calmed down after seeing Obed McCoy bowling the 15th over instead of R Ashwin
Players to Lose IPL final for 3 different Teams
Shikhar Dhawan for [MI, SRH, DC]
Ravi Ashwin for [CSK, DC, RR]*
#IPLFinal
Ashwin is totally responsible for this loss,not Chahal.This pitch was helping spinners,it's just that Ashwin didn't exploit the conditions!
#IPLFinal
Hardik knew they can't hold back Ashwin forever. Waited patiently and pounced on him as soon as he was introduced. Clever.
Ashwin you really disappointed every RR fan ๐
Ashwin getting smoked in a final. We have seen that before.
Ashwin is just a hyped up good for nothing bowler
Ashwin bottling in finals as usual.
Most probably Ashwin is going to bowl 16th, 18th and 20th over ๐ค๐ญ
๐คญEntire TL was blaming Sanju for not bowling Ashwin. Now he changed the momentum ๐๐คญ
Variations should be used as an exception and not as a stock ball. Looks like Ashwin has completely forgotten that he is an off-spinner in the first place. He has tried too hard to go one-up with Yuzi Chahal and ended up no where. This is what ego does to you! #RRvsGT #IPLFinal twitter.com/the_kafir_boy_โฆ
Miller smashing ashwin in this pressure situation ๐ฅถ clutch mentality man.
Ravi Ashwin's
Last 5 IPL Finals
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost*
#GTvRR
Ashwin bowling in death overs now will surely be giving 2013 CT final vibes
Ashwin Getting Smoked By a Left Hander in Final. Same Old Story We have Seen this Before #IPLFinals
Feeling sad for Jos and Boulty. Not for Riyan parag and Ashwin.
Ashwin is so much like Mo Salah ๐
Ash Anna bashed CSK rookie bowlers and thought he did something ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ
Good over ash anna ๐ https://t.co/wrrueNXDIg
131 was just too few for RR to defend
The Royals would have realized that they just didn't have enough runs on the board. However, they had a world-class bowling attack that could make life difficult for the Titans.
RR would have got off to a dream start had Shubman Gill not been dropped on zero by Yuzvendra Chahal. Although they picked up the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade in the powerplay, Hardik Pandya walked out to bat and stabilized GT's chase.
The 28-year-old was proactive in his batting, finding boundaries at regular intervals and keeping the required run-rate in check. David Miller joined Gill after Pandya's wicket and the duo steered GT home.
While RR will rue not fixing their lower-order issues throughout the season, GT will be proud to have punched above their weight right through.
Pandya became just the second skipper after Rohit Sharma to win the Man of the Match in an IPL final.