Sunil Gavaskar heaps praise on Ashwin-Iyer duo

In what one may call poetic justice, it had to be Ravichandran Ashwin leading the charge for India in the end and eventually administering the coup de grace to the Bangladeshi aspirations of turning the tide around against India. He was very adeptly tagged along by Shreyas Iyer who put in a staunch shift in the end to stabilize India’s rocked ship.

After an early slide, it was Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin who came together and managed to hammer home a crucial partnership that helped India keep their hopes for making the cut for the WTC final alive. Ashwin was the star act of India as he clinched 6 scalps throughout the match while also hitting a phenomenal 42 from 62 balls in the second innings to arrest India’s early decline.

Former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar was all praise for Ashwin and Iyer who made it possible for the visitors to return from the jaws of defeat and eventually turn the momentum in their favour, securing a remarkable victory at Dhaka on a surface that had its own shenanigans.

In an interaction with Sony Sports, Gavaskar first talked about the crucial partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Ashwin, stating, “They both looked utterly calm there. The tension must have been unbelievable out there. But somebody like Ashwin, he has been a fantastic cricketer. People only talk about his bowling but he has got five hundreds and he showed how he got those. Terrific innings from him and a great partnership with Shreyas Iyer.”

He further added, “They took their scoring opportunities. They were not afraid of playing their shots, with Iyer in particular. That lofted shot over extra cover was brilliantly executed, forcing the bowler to bowl a little bit short.”

India’s next battle will be against Sri Lanka as they lock horns for 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs before they get into the final Test series ahead of the WTC final where Australia will be paying them a visit to seal the fate of the grand finale at Oval.