Delhi Capitals (DC) off-spinner R Ashwin, who had a great India season as he picked 12 wickets in 3 games in Australia along with 32 wickets against England, did not get off to a great start in IPL 2021 as he gave 47 runs in his 4 overs at an economy rate of 11.8.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar explained the reason behind Ashwin’s struggle.

“Ashwin doesn't bowl the off-spinner. He hardly bowls the off-spinner in white-ball cricket. In white-ball cricket, there's a lot of other stuff, the pause and the round-arm delivery and stuff like that which I don't really like too much,” he said.

According to Manjrekar, the right-arm off-spinner thinks about getting hit in the white-ball cricket and thus goes for all these variations.

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“I think Ashwin when he gets into this white-ball circle, he's only thinking about not getting hit and he thinks the only way to escape punishment is to have all these kinds of variations and he goes away from his main strength which is him being this wonderful off-spinner,” he told ESPNcricinfo.

The 55-year-old concluded the talk by saying, “A lot of people believe that he should be part of the white-ball format for India but the Ashwin that you see in Test matches is not who you see in white-ball cricket.”

With a spectacular batting performance by DC, they took down the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the next assignment for skipper Rishabh Pant is taking on Rajasthan Royals on 15 April at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

(With ESPNcricinfo inputs)