Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin cleared the air of his “serving drinks” remark about young batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Ashwin said the comment was not made in a negative way and his intention was to highlight the importance of learning for the 15-year-old by spending time around the team.
Ashwin cleared the air
Ashwin had earlier said that Sooryavanshi could “serve drinks” or sit out if he is not selected in the playing XI. However, the former spinner explained that his words were misunderstood.Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said: “I said earlier that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi ‘can spend time, can serve someone who can drink, can sit outside.’ It’s not in a derogatory way.”Explaining his point, he added, “I say he has a lot to learn. He has a big learning curve to go through that if he observes it while sitting out, he will get better. Don’t talk about dropping or picking – let him go, let him grow. He’s going to be a fantastic player.”
Sooryavanshi returned to form against Zimbabwe
Sooryavanshi made his international debut during India’s T20I series against England but failed to make a big impact. The youngster scored 14, 13 and 15 in the three games he played.The youngster, however, bounced back quickly in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. He scored a half-century in the first game, followed it up with a 20-run knock and then smashed a brilliant 81 in the last game.The left-hander ended the series with 151 runs from three matches at an average of 50.33 and an impressive strike rate of 196.10. His performances earned him the Player of the Series award.
“We can’t write his obituary right away”
Ashwin also spoke about Sooryavanshi’s struggles against England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who dismissed him with a short delivery in the T20I series in England.“Who do you think is the strongest batsman against the short ball? Ricky Ponting? Didn’t he get out with a short ball? He got out too. So we have to understand that everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. These things are common in international cricket. It’s simple – show your strengths, hide your weaknesses, and keep working on them behind the scenes. All these questions Archer asked if what he did against Jofra … experiences. We can’t write his obituary right away. One cannot write someone like that,” Ashwin said.Ashwin also pointed out that Sooryavanshi’s strong IPL performances have increased the expectations around him.“He is a young kid. The problem is, we rate him so much; he has performed so well in the IPL, the expectations are high. We expect him to perform like Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma every game, to be consistent.