Ravichandran Ashwin's 3 best World Cup spells
Ravichandran Ashwin being named as Axar Patel's replacement divided the cricket fraternity. While some were in favor of the call, others questioned his lack of appearances in the ODI format since 2017.
In a whirlwind couple of months for the Indian team, with all the injury scares and unavailability issues, Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in the World Cup squad has quite a few advantages. Not only does he bring variety to the bowling attack, but his more than handy batting prowess gives the team more death.
While Ravichandran Ashwin can naturally turn the ball away from the left-handers, he can also keep the right-handers guessing with some unconventional deliveries such as the carrom ball. He also has one of the sharpest cricket brains, and his game awareness sets him apart from the rest.
Talking about the World Cup, he has given some top performances for India in ICC tournaments. In this article, we are going to discuss some of his best performances in World Cups.
Ravichandran Ashwin's 3 best World Cup spells
#3 3/41 against South Africa, Melbourne, 2015 ODI World Cup
When India faced South Africa, one of the firm favorites for the 2015 ODI World Cup, in Melbourne, they needed to play out of their skin to topple their opponents.
Shikhar Dhawan, who often raised his game in ICC events, turned out in his beast mode and slammed a fantabulous century. Ajinkya Rahane also played an impactful knock of 79* of just 60 balls to propel India's total to 307 runs.
But a strong South African batting line-up consisting of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla would have still fancied their chances.
Ravichandran Ashwin, however, ensured that South African batters didn't get much freedom in the middle overs and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. He finished with a spell of 3/41, helping his side bowl out South Africa for 177 runs.
#2 2/14 against Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi, 2021 T20 World Cup
Coming after a soul-crushing loss against arch-rivals Pakistan, India needed to win by a big margin in their remaining matches to improve their NRR and remain in contention for the semifinals
Against Afghanistan, India had a near-perfect game, with KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Hardik Pandya's fireworks ensuring that the team's total reached 210/2. Now it was up to the bowlers to make sure that not only the team win but by a big margin.
Ravichandran Ashwin took the responsibility and picked up two crucial wickets of Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran, giving away just 14 runs in his four overs, with India securing a comprehensive 66-run victory.
#1 2/20 against Bangladesh, Bengaluru, 2016 T20 World Cup
In a do-or-die match against Bangladesh at Chinnaswamy, India needed to win by a considerable margin to keep their fate in their own hands.
And when the batters struggled to get going, huffing and puffing their way to 146/7, it all just fell down to the bowlers to bail them out from the hole.
Ravichandran Ashwin triggered the Bangladesh downfall by first removing Mohammad Mithun, and then the dangerous Shakib Al Hasan with a beautiful away-going delivery that took the outside edge of the batter.
It ultimately took an iconic over from Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni's brilliance to win it for India. But it was Ashwin's middle-over choke that laid the foundation of the famous win for the side.