Former India opener Virender Sehwag slammed veteran off-spinner R Ashwin for bowling carom balls after Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the IPL 2022 final against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 29.
Ashwin failed to take a single wicket and conceded 32 runs in his three overs against GT in the IPL 2022 final as RR tried to defend a meager total of 130.
Sehwag questioned the off-spinner’s bowling approach and stressed that he should have stuck to conventional off-spin on the Narendra Modi Stadium wicket.
Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz: “Ashwin should have stuck with his off-spin deliveries because it was troubling the batters. Instead, he bowled his carrom balls. There was even a rough patch formed by the end that could have troubled Shubman Gill. He could have tried to dismiss Hardik Pandya as well like that. But, his mindset is different, tries for wickets with his variations.”
He also believes RR missed a trick by not including an extra pacer instead of Riyan Parag for the IPL 2022 final. Notably, RR was restricted to 130/9, which GT chased down in just 18.1 overs on Sunday.
Sehwag further explained, “RR knew how hard it is to play pacers on this surface, but they still went with both their spinners instead of a fourth fast bowling option. They will also question themselves about that should they have batted first after winning the toss after chasing so well in Qualifier 2. They could have played a pacer instead of Riyan Parag because even Ashwin can bat that much.”
Meanwhile, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel said that the result could have been different if Yuzvendra Chahal hadn't dropped Shubman Gill (45) early in the run-chase.
Patel signed off by saying, “It would have been better had RR taken one more wicket in the powerplay, they had created the pressure. The complexion of the game would have been different had Gill’s catch been taken. But it was sort of given that if GT play for 18-19 overs, they would chase this down, it was not a big target.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
