‘Ashwin always attacks’

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (left) and captain Rohit Sharma celebrate the fall of a New Zealand wicket during the second T20I at JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi recently. Pic/Getty Images

Ravichandran Ashwin is always an attacking option in the middle overs of a T20I match when a team needs wickets, India captain Rohit Sharma said of the seasoned off-spinner. Rohit, the newly-appointed T20 skipper, picked his team's bowling as the biggest positive in the 3-0 sweep of New Zealand.

Splendid comeback

Having made a splendid white-ball comeback after four years in the T20 World Cup earlier this month, Ashwin, 35, made an impact in the three-match series against the Kiwis, giving crucial breakthroughs while restricting the runs in the middle overs. "He's always an attacking option for a captain. When you have someone like him in your squad, it always gives you the opportunity to take wickets in the middle and we understand how important that phase is," Rohit said.

The captain was speaking after their 73-run win over New Zealand in the final T20 at Eden Gardens on Sunday night. "It's been a great comeback ever since he played in Dubai and till now. He's a quality bowler. Over the years he's proved himself with the red ball and even in white ball he doesn't have a bad record. The way he has bowled in Dubai and then two games here. It shows the quality that he has."

Deadly duo

Ashwin returned with tidy figures of 4-0-23-2 and 4-0-19-1 in Jaipur and Ranchi. Along with Axar Patel, he restricted the run flow in the middle overs. "You know, that's where [middle overs] you need to put the brakes on the run rate, the scoring rate and try and keep taking wickets so I think Ashwin provides that to us in the middle along with Axar. Both of these guys are wicket-taking options in the middle and the goal is never about surviving, it's always about ‘how I can get the batter out or how I can put the pressure on the batter'. So it's always a good option for a captain to have someone like them in the middle, bowling those crucial overs and trying to put the pressure back on the opposition by taking wickets," Rohit said.

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