Ravichandran Ashwin made a strong comeback in the domestic T20 league, TNPL 2023 after failing to get the nod in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final 2023. He took 2 wickets in the first game of the tournament and his team won the match by 6 wickets.
Ravichandran Ashwin missed out on the ICC WTC Final
Ravichandran Ashwin was last seen in professional cricket in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. He took 14 wickets in IPL 2023. After that, Team India didn’t pick him for the ICC WTC Final 2023 as they preferred Shardul Thakur over him.
At one stage, it was looking like India would go with two spinners in the WTC final. But the grass on the pitch and the overcast morning tempted the captain and team management to go with the extra pacer in Shardul Thakur. And R Jadeja got the opportunity as a lone spinner in the playing XI. R Jadeja was also preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin because of his batting prowess.
The cricket fraternity is in shock at Ashwin’s exclusion
The whole cricket fraternity was left shocked after this. Many former cricketers and experts say the decision to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin in the final was not good. Legendary players like Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar also show their disappointment regarding this decision.
Team India lost the final badly
The Indian team, who played the 2nd straight WTC final lost the game by 209 runs. They put Australia into bat in the first morning and the Aussies scored a mammoth 469 in the first inning. Since then, team India was behind in the game. The target of 444 in the 4th inning was never going to be easy. They bowled out for 234 in the 2nd inning.
R Ashwin makes a return in professional cricket
Now, R Ashwin came back to professional cricket with Dindigul Dragons in TNPL 2023. He will captain the side in TNPL 2023. Along with him, there are a few big names as well in the team like Baba Indrajith, Varun Chakravarthy, etc.
Ashwin started off really well in TNPL 2023
Dindigul Dragons vs Ba11sy Trichy, 4th Match, SRN College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore
Ba11sy Trichy won the toss and elected to bat first. Right from the beginning, they continue to lose wickets at regular intervals. At one stage, they were 49 for 6. After that, captain Ganga Sridhar Raju and Rajkumar steady the ship and stitched a 65-run stand for the 7th wicket. But that was the only big partnership in the inning. The former scored 48 off 41 balls while the latter a strong hand of 39 off 22 balls.
R Ashwin took 2 wickets
Captain R Ashwin managed to take 2 wickets in the inning. He got Ganga Sridhar Raju and Ferrario in the inning. Also, he only gave 26 runs in his 4 overs. Ba11sy Trichy bundled out for just 120 runs.
Dindigul Dragons chased down the target easily
Dindigul chased down the target with 6 wickets and 5.1 overs left. Opener Shivam Singh scored 46 off 30 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. The cameos from Baba Indrajith, Adithya Ganesh, and Suboth Bhati make sure the team gets over the line quite convincingly. Varun Chakravarthy becomes man of the match for his 3 wickets.
R Ashwin in TNPL
Since the beginning, Ravichandran Ashwin is with Dindigul Dragons in TNPL. He was also seen at the auction table of TNPL 2023. Clearly, he is so much involved with this team’s functioning.
The legendary off-spinner only featured in one game for Dindigul Dragons last season. His team finished 6th in the points table with only 2 wins.
Dindigul reached the final of TNPL twice but hasn’t crossed the line yet. They are yet to win the TNPL title. Ravichandran Ashwin will look to lead from the front and hope that this year, the drought of the TNPL title breaks.
Conclusion
R Ashwin’s only focus right now will be on TNPL 2023 trophy. We will see him in international cricket against West Indies in Tests, next month.
Dindigul’s next game will be against Siechem Madurai Panthers on June 18 at NPR College Ground. It will be a night affair with the game starting at 7:30 PM IST. You can catch all the live action on Star Sports Network. Also, if you are an online viewer, you can see all the live action of TNPL 2023 on the FanCode App.
What do you think? How much Dindigul Dragons will progress from last year? Will they end the trophy drought this year? And how much bigger an impact of Ravichandran Ashwin has on the team? So many things to answer. Comment your answers below.
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