"Realized how important it was to back Tushar Deshpande" - Ravichandran Ashwin on MS Dhoni persisting with CSK pacer

Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently pointed out that many fans urged Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to drop seamer Tushar Deshpande after a couple of failed outings in the ongoing IPL 2023. Ashwin went on to state that CSK skipper MS Dhoni did the right thing by backing the bowler.

He further highlighted how Deshpande was able to turn things around in the crucial encounter against Mumbai Indians (MI).

"After the first match, they had a go like this at Tushar Deshpande as well. 'Why is he bowling like this? Drop Tushar!' these were some of the criticisms," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. "However, the captain, who knew it all, realized how important it was to back Tushar at this point. And he started picking wickets. Tim David smashed him, but he ended up getting his wicket as well."

Tushar Deshpande struggled to get going in the first two fixtures against Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He proved to be expensive in those games and was also slammed by many for overstepping multiple times.

The 27-year-old, however, bounced back in the ensuing clash against MI, picking up the crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma and Tim David.

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"The villain is being already fixed here" - Ravichandran Ashwin on bowlers not getting enough credit for their performances

Ravichandran Ashwin further stated that after the low-scoring encounter in Lucknow between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 7, many raised questions over the nature of the pitch.

He claimed that people feel the surface isn't up to the mark if batters aren't able to score runs on it. The seasoned spinner emphasized that a bowler, on the other hand, has to deal with a lot of criticism when he fails.

Ashwin elaborated:

"There was a match between LSG and SRH, which was a low-scoring affair. Lucknow drubbed SRH in that game. Immediately, there was a talk raised about the pitch. So, the larger writing and the larger ecosystem is centered around batting. If the batters score runs, then it's a good pitch.

"No one says that a batter is only good if he plays well even on those favourable conditions to the bowlers. And if the bowler gets smashed, immediately they are blaming the bowler. I mean, the villain is being already fixed here, right? The hero keeps changing among the batters."

Ravichandran Ashwin himself has done a fine job for RR so far in the competition. The crafty spinner has bagged four wickets from three matches and has an impressive economy rate of 6.41 to his name.