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BCCI President Sourav Ganguly spoke at length about veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Ganguly said that Ashwin does not need him saying that he has been an exceptional performer and his records speak for himself. The former India skipper mentioned that Ashwin played a crucial role in India's 2011 ODI World Cup triumph as he was the Men in Blue's key bowler in the 2013 Champions Trophy win and has also been terrific in Test match cricket.
However, in a stunning revelation, the former cricketer said that he was not sure about Ashwin's comeback in limited-overs cricket but it was the then T20 captain Virat Kohli who wanted Ashwin in India's T20 World Cup squad.
This is a big revelation given there were some reports of differences between Kohli and Ashwin, especially after the veteran spinner was overlooked for a place in the XI, not in one or two but all the four Test matches that India played against England in the United Kingdom earlier this year.
You don’t need rocket science to judge Ashwin’s talent: Ganguly
"Everybody speaks about him. Look at Rahul Dravid’s statement after the (Kanpur) Test match - he called him an all-time great. You don’t need rocket science to judge Ashwin’s talent. My appreciation just comes from what I see. It may be Ashwin, it may be (Shreyas) Iyer, it may be Rohit (Sharma), it may be Virat (Kohli)," Ganguly said on Backstage with Boria.
"I wasn't sure that Ashwin would be part of the white-ball setup (again). But then Virat Kohli wanted him in the side, wanted him to be a part of the T20 World Cup squad and whatever little bit of opportunities that he got, I thought he was superb," he added.
Ashwin is set to be a key member of the Test squad which is touring South Africa especially in the absence of other spinning options in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, who have been ruled out due to injuries. Ashwin might even be needed to do some damage control with the bat in the upcoming series.