Indian spin veteran Ravichandran Ashwin backed Team India following their 2-3 series loss in T20Is to West Indies, saying that some youngsters performed well for India and this outing will serve as a great learning experience for the new-look Men in Blue. After winning the Test and ODI series, India lost the T20I series to WI by 2-3. This loss led to fans criticising players for their performances since they had lost to WI after they failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup this year and could not qualify for the main stage of the ICC T20 World Cup last year in Australia. “There are plenty of positives. It is easy to criticize them on social media as they lost to a team that did not qualify for T20 WC last time and the 50-year WC this year. As a youngster, when you go to WI, there will be challenges. In all countries, there will be some innate secrets. The local players will know about these little things more than the visiting teams, especially when they are youngsters,” said Ashwin on his Youtube channel. “When I went to WI, England and Australia for the first time, I had to learn a lot of little things. When I went to Australia as a spinner in 2011, I only knew one thing about red-ball cricket. My coach taught me that if a batter bats well and you are going through a tough spell, spin the ball really hard. I would try to spin hard and even harder on being hit for fours and sixes. That was all I knew on my first tour. But after that tour, I became richer as a cricketer. In Australia, I cannot just keep giving more air here. They can hit me down the wicket, smash me against the spin and with the wind as well. Another thing in Australia, there will be a cross breeze from one side. Even if you are an off-spinner, Aussies will step out and smash you through the offside. This all is not the norm in India. It was my first time in Australia,” he added. Ashwin backed youngsters to come good in future, saying that they will emerge as better and richer cricketers after the tour to WI, though he said that criticism of the loss was fair and understandable. He however argued that many youngsters did well for India, like Tilak Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. “The emergence of Tilak Varma as a batter was great. In the final T20I, he chipped in with the ball too. Suryakumar continued with his brilliant, fearless T20I batting. Shubman Gill and Yashasvi’s opening duo won us the fourth T20I. Jaiswal got to play three T20Is. He did not play well in his first but he never died wondering even in his first game. His approach made us wonder if it is going to be T20I batting for India. He went for shots in the first over and was like ‘I am never going to die wondering’. He won the fourth T20I with Gill, it was breath-taking,” he said. Ashwin said that many foreign players come to play in Indian Premier League (IPL) and get to know a lot of vital and important information about Indian conditions and likewise, Indian players must have learnt a lot during the WI tour. Ashwin said that when it comes to improving batting depth, it will take some personal leadership to see some positive changes. “If they improve even 1 per cent, it will be great for our future and everything will get better if they have role clarity,” he said. Now, India will go to Ireland for a three T20I series, starting August 18 onwards and will conclude on August 23.
Team India (Senior Men) squad for T20I series against Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.
