'They forget other people's struggles' - Ashwin lauds 'domestic' bowler for rising through the ranks

R Ashwin (Source: Twitter)

India beat Bangladesh at Dhaka in a thriller by three wickets and took the two-match Test series 2-0. In the second Test, India survived a scare as they were 74-7 and were staring down the barrel on Day 4 before Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer put on a 71- run partnership to see India through.

While all the talk was on Kuldeep Yadav and why he was overlooked in the second Test, One man who had a noteworthy comeback was Jaydev Unadkat who played his second Test match since 2010. He scalped 3 wickets in the game and gave India a memorable win.

"He posed with the trophy and I told him you could lift this trophy because of the other trophy (Ranji trophy) that you lifted. You completely deserve for all what you have done for Saurashtra cricket.” Ashwin said on Unadkat’s comeback on his YouTube channel. He picked up 67 wickets in the Ranji Trophy in 2020 and led Saurashtra to a title in that year.

People are smashing doors with strong Ranji performances: Ashwin

He then led Saurashtra to a Vijay Hazare Trophy title and all these milestones as a captain and also a player was responsible for him getting back into the Indian Team after a 10-year hiatus. "He bowled like an experienced pro and it is not easy. Everyone will have white ball memory and how well he didn't bowl for Rajasthan and so on. But go and see his red ball numbers," Ashwin added.

Ashwin then went on to talk about first-class cricket and how players like Saurabh Kumar, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Shabaz Nadeem have all got into the national team by showing nerves of steel in first-class cricket. Saurabh picked up 15 wickets in the two India A Test matches recently.

"In India, if there is a hot selling topic, everyone will have a say about that. They forget other people's struggles. We should take a closer look at our domestic cricket. Indian T20 League is changing lives and it takes centre stage as its bread and butter. They are showing their ability in Indian T20 League and getting recognition with Test and ODI call-ups. But 70 to 80 per cent of people playing cricket in India are smashing doors with performances in Ranji Trophy,"