Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is known to be quite vocal about on-field events in the cricketing circles whether it is the run out at the non striker end which he inflicted in IPL 2019 or taking the review of a third umpire’s division in TNPL Ashwin never hesitates to put forward his opinion irrespective of how controversial it might sound.
The Comment
Building on his reputation Ashwin has reacted to Harry Brook’s comment after being dismissed to leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy in the first T20I in Kolkata. Brook who has failed to make any significant contribution in the ongoing five-match T20I series against India was unable to pick Chakravarthy’s googly in the first T20I and was bowled reacting to which the batter blamed smog for not being able to sight the ball.
The Reaction
Ashwin responded quickly to Brook’s explanation after his dismissal in the second T20I in Chennai “There was no smog there in Chennai. Harry Brook had earlier stated that there was smog in Kolkata, so picking Varun Chakravarthy was difficult. I want to say one thing to Harry Brook: ‘Please understand that Varun Chakravarthy doesn’t bowl leg spin that much. It is googly’,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’. Talking about Brook’s dismissal in the two matches, Ashwin said “You moved to the leg stump and couldn’t read the delivery, so you got bowled. Then you covered the stump and took a big stride, but couldn’t read the googly, you got bowled again.”
The Blame
The off-spinner seemed to be in no mood to spare the English batter as he said that Brook should accept that he did not pick the googly out of the bowler’s hand and stop blaming atmospheric condition. “No matter how the light is, if you are not reading the googly out of his hand, you are just not reading the delivery out of his hand,” he added.
Deja Vu
Other than Ashwin several other former players like Sunil Gavaskar and India’s former head coach Ravi Shastri took note of Harry Brook’s comment and were quick to seize on the opportunity to have their say. The duo was on air during Brook’s dismissal in the second T20I and took a dig at the right-hander by saying there is none of it in Chennai