Seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently said that he felt “absolutely crushed” when former coach Ravi Shastri had termed Kuldeep Yadav as India's lead overseas spinner after the latter took five wickets in the 2019 Sydney Test against Australia.

"I hold Ravi Bhai in high esteem. We all do. And I understand we all can say things and then retract them. In that moment, though, I felt crushed. Absolutely crushed. We all talk about how important it is to enjoy your team-mates' success," ESPNcricinfo had quoted Ashwin as saying.

However, former selector Sarandeep Singh feels Ashwin took Shastri's comment on Kuldeep in a wrong way.

Speaking to ANI, Sarandeep said: "Ashwin took the comment in a wrong way. I was also there on the tour with Team India about which Shastri is talking. He meant to say that Kuldeep is a better bowler for us on overseas tour because his bowling style is different and Ashwin took this in another way and yes Shastri is right, his job is not to butter everyone toast."

"Ashwin is a great bowler who has produced good bowling style in the African conditions. Also, he can be a game-changer for us. I don't think this will be his last tour as he has got a lot to perform," he added.

On a separate note, Sarandeep Singh said Virat Kohli will be playing with a free mind in the Test series against South Africa.

"He is mentally fit and I feel that he is going to play with a free mind. Nothing related to the captaincy controversy will affect his game and he will bat exactly like the way he used to do earlier. We can hope for a century from him as this time he has a good, balanced team," he stated.

(With ANI inputs)