Indian cricket team spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recalled the heartbreaking scenes following India’s defeat in the Cricket World Cup 2023 final against Australia. India were unbeaten in the competition going into the summit clash but were completely outplayed by Australia who rode brilliant performances from Travis Head and the bowlers to claim a record-extending sixth World Cup title. In a recent interaction, Ashwin said that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ended up in tears after the defeat.
“Yes, we felt the pain. Rohit and Virat were crying. Seeing that it felt bad. Anyways, not meant to be. This team was an experienced team. Everybody knew what to do. And then, it was professional. Everybody knew their routines, warm-ups. I think two natural leaders gave the team the space to do these two ( Kohli and Rohit) and created a vibe,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
Although India ended as runners-up in Cricket World Cup 2023, Rohit received a lot of praise for his explosive batting at the top of the order and his captaincy. Ashwin praised Rohit as someone who understands all the other players and explained that he puts extra effort to know more about them.
“If you look at Indian cricket, everybody will tell you MS Dhoni is one of the best captains. Rohit Sharma is an outstanding person. He understands every single person in the team, he knows what each one of us likes and dislikes. He has a great understanding. He puts in the effort to know each member personally,” stated Ashwin.
Meanwhile, Ashwin made an interesting observation regarding Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians – the two most successful team in IPL history – and their philosophy on players release.
“Trading so many players or releasing so many players is not a well-known practice so far in the IPL. Because if you look at these IPL teams and talk to them, especially with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, there has been a trend. They have never given players, they have only taken players. And they have five titles each. That’s a proper platform that they have built their franchise on,” Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin then went on to say about another IPL trade deal offered by Mumbai Indians to Punjab Kings when he was the captain of the latter from 2018 to 2019.
“When I was Punjab captain, Mumbai Indians showed heavy interest in trading David Miller. They were willing to give as much money as possible, but I wanted a player trade-off as that is what the team would need, which they never came close to agreeing to,” added Ashwin, while speaking in Tamil.
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