CHENNAI : Soon after being unveiled as the skipper of Kings XI Punjab captain ahead of this IPL, Ravichandran Ashwin had promised to be innovative. He also indicated he would take risks. After the first six rounds, he was praised for his out-of-thebox thinking, as Punjab were perched on top of the table. Those heady days are past, as the team is fighting to stay alive in the competition. A major reason is constant chopping and changing in the middle-order. Ashwin tried to fix the rut by shuffling his pack, but a few moves of his were bizarre to say the least.
While he tried gamble, opponents ended up easily calling his bluff. In the match against Rajasthan, the skipper promoted himself to No 3 after Chris Gayle had departed for his second single-digit score of the season. He fell without troubling the scorers. With Mayank Agarwal excluded from the XI, ideally Karun Nair should have been the go-to man in this case, considering that he is the thirdhighest run getter for the team after the openers. On other occasions, Axar Patel and Akshdeep Nath came in ahead of established batsmen. None of these moves paid dividends.
“The main problem Ashwin has faced is the team hasn’t found the ideal XI. His ideas have not had the desired effect, especially when the chips have been down,” Zimbabwe coach and former India batsman Lalchand Rajput said. Trying out 10 players in the middle-order is not the way to go. Trying out youngsters like Nath in place of a faltering Mayank and promoting Axar to counter Mumbai’s spin backfired Failures of Yuvraj Singh and Aaron Finch didn’t help either. When Punjab were winning, Ashwin’s concept of starting with spin from both ends was lauded.
But now, with the team in dire straits, they need him to pull a rabbit out of the hat. His bowling has also suffered. While in the initial phase, he was constantly bowling wrist spin, Ashwin has now reverted to off-breaks and his economy rate has gone up as a result. “What separates good captains from the great is how they deal with adversity. He has been trying too hard. He should try and keep a cool head.” ayantan@newindianexpress.com