Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has cleared the air over his “serve drinks” remark about young batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Ashwin said the comment was not made in a negative way and his intention was to highlight the importance of learning for the 15-year-old by spending time around the team.
Ashwin clears the air
Ashwin had earlier said that Sooryavanshi could “serve drinks” or sit out if he was not picked in the playing XI. However, the former spinner explained that his words were misunderstood.Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said: “I had said earlier that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ‘can spend time, can serve someone drinks, can sit outside.’ It was not in a derogatory manner.”Explaining his point, he added, “I was saying that he will get so much to learn. He has such a huge learning curve to go through that if he observes it while sitting outside, he’ll become even better. Don’t talk about dropping or picking – let him be, let him evolve. He’ll be a really phenomenal player.”
Sooryavanshi returns to form against Zimbabwe
Sooryavanshi made his international debut during India’s T20I series against England but failed to make a big impact. The teenager scored 14, 13 and 15 in the three matches he played.The youngster, however, quickly bounced back in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. He scored a half-century in the opening match, followed it with a 20-run knock and then smashed a brilliant 81 in the final game.The left-hander finished the series with 151 runs from three matches at an average of 50.33 and an impressive strike rate of 196.10. His performances earned him the Player of the Series award.
‘We can’t write his obituary immediately’
Ashwin also spoke about Sooryavanshi’s struggles against England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who dismissed him with short deliveries during the T20I series in England.“Who do you think is the strongest batsman against the short ball? Ricky Ponting? Did he never get out on a short ball? He got out too. So we have to understand everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. These things are common in international cricket. It’s simple — show your strengths, hide your weaknesses, and keep working on them behind the scenes. All these questions… How many times did he play against Jofra Archer at Trent Bridge? These are all experiences. We can’t write his obituary immediately. Can’t write someone off just like that,” Ashwin said.Ashwin also pointed out that Sooryavanshi’s strong IPL performances have increased expectations around him.
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“He’s such a young kid. The problem is, we rate him so highly; he performed so well in the IPL, expectations skyrocketed. We expect him to perform like Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma every match, to be consistent. That’s not how it works. There will be ups and downs in life, in cricket too,” he said.
