T20 World Cup 2021: "I have never seen you in this jersey appa" - Ashwin's daughter surprised as the off-spinner dons India blue jersey
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be back in the blue jersey for the first time in over four years at the T20 World Cup.
It was an emotional moment for Ashwin on Sunday as he wore India's T20 World Cup kit for the first time since getting dumped out of the set-up in August 2017.
And for his elder daughter, who was barely two years old when he played his last white-ball game for India, it was the first time she had seen her dad in the dark blue clothing of Team India. She has, in fact, always seen Ashwin in the Test kit or in different IPL jerseys.
So, when she saw Ashwin in India's white-ball kit for the very first time, it naturally came as a surprise to her.
Ashwin revealed the same in his latest Instagram post as he shared a picture of himself in the T20 WC jersey with his daughter in the background.
The veteran off-spinner wrote:
''When your daughter says ‘I have never seen you in this jersey appa’ can’t leave her out of the picture. Can you ? @prithinarayanan''
Ashwin has featured in three T20 World Cups thus far and the Tamil Nadu cricketer remains India's leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
Can Ashwin shrug off his poor IPL campaign at the T20 WC?
Ashwin's inclusion in the T20 World Cup came as a huge surprise to everyone considering the fact that he had been out of the white-ball set-up for over four years.
Speaking on the thought process behind his inclusion, skipper Virat Kohli said:
"The one thing Ashwin has really improved is he is bowling with a lot of courage. He is not shy to put the ball in the right areas against batsmen like Polly (Pollard), lengths at which the bowlers can be hit. Ashwin has been rewarded for reviving his white-ball bowling.
"Ash and Jadeja have been performing really well which augurs really well for us as a team to see these finger spinners back," Kohli added.
Ashwin had a disappointing IPL campaign for the Delhi Capitals where he was often guilty of trying too many variations rather than sticking to off-spin.
The off-spinner neither took enough wickets nor was he economical. In 13 games, he managed just seven wickets at an average of 47.28 and an economy rate of 7.41. The champion cricketer will look to shrug off his poor form in the T20 WC.