Be it a player, an umpire or a cricket expert, everyone accepts that Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the smartest thinkers in the game. Many times Ravichandran Ashwin has spoken about the spirit of the game and has been very vocal about how he plans and grooms a batsman. Recently, he had plans against Steven Smith, arguably one of the greatest Test batsmen of all time, when India toured Australia for the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Mankading incident that gave rise to controversy in 2019 IPL Ashwin faced all kinds of problems, but he later explained why it was within both the rules and the spirit of the game.
Ashwin, who mostly plays for India in Test matches, has now opened up on why he should be charged lbw when the batsman tries to hit the switch. Ashwin, who has taken 442 wickets in 86 matches, does not talk about the technicalities of the gentleman’s game. When England toured India in 2021 and experts from all corners were targeting the Indian curators, Ashwin was the first to come out and defend the Indian turf and questioned his views on the game.
“My question is not whether the batsman can reverse the sweep, whether it comes under negative bowling strategy or not (bowling outside the leg stump), my point is about applying lbw to the batsman who gets the bowler out. Trying to hit the switch. It’s unfair it’s not LBW governed. If the batsmen play the switch hit then no problem, but the bowlers should be given LBW if the batsman misses. Can’t say it’s not LBW once the batsmen start giving out in all formats of the game, some parity between bowling and batting can be maintained”, said Ashwin.