'India selectors were unfair on him. Rohit, Dravid must have an influence': Saqlain hails 'world-class' India bowler
Pakistan legend Saqlain Mushtaq hailed the return of a “world class” player to the Indian side in the T20 format for the Asia Cup.
India have had a wide range of players to pick their team from for the Asia Cup. Since their forgettable 2021 T20 World Cup show, the Indian side under captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid has auditioned ample players for various positions across series to give them enough options for both the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. Some were newly been included, while few making their returns and Pakistan legend Saqlain Mushtaq hailed the return of a “world class” player to the Indian side in the T20 format.
Back in 2017, R Ashwin had lost his place in the Indian white-ball set-up. The Virat Kohli-led set-up had moved from finger spinners to wrist spinners which subsequently restricted Ashwin to only the red-ball format. But after a long gap of four years, Ashwin was called back to the team for the 2021 T20 World Cup.
He was suddenly dropped yet again from all the subsequent white-ball series thereafter but was called back to the side after eight months for the T20I series in West Indies before the selectors included him in the Asia Cup side as well.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Saqlain explained that Ashwin is the only bowler in the world who can change gears between being an economical bowler to an aggressive wicket-taking option. He then hailed the veteran Indian cricketer as “one of the greats” of the game and also his return to the Indian side for the Asia Cup
“There are two types of bowlers - one who sets traps to dismiss batters and one who are economical. Ashwin is the only player in the world who can do both these things. He has both the gears. I feel India selectors were unfair by dropping him from the white-ball team. He is a world class bowler and one of the greats. Now that he has been selected, I think Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid must have an influence, even the selectors as well, I feel this is a very good move by the Indian team,” he said.
