‘Ashwin has quality competition’

Melbourne: Sri Lankan bowling great Muttiah Muralitharan says the quality and depth in Indian cricket's white ball eco-system is so good that the country has created an unimaginable talent pool in T20 format.

The owner of 800 Test wickets and the greatest off-spinner of all times made his point with an observation that a bowler of the calibre of Ravichandran Ashwin struggles to make it to India's playing XI in white-ball matches.

Ashwin, who is closing in on 450 Test wickets, is back in the white ball mix after being in the wilderness in shorter formats for more than three years.

“There are too many quality options in Indian cricket system. There is very stiff competition among the top Indian spinners in white ball cricket,” Murali told PTI in an interview organized by the Legends League Cricket LLC). In red ball cricket, there isn't much competition as Ashwin is on top. He is peerless.The moment we turn to T20, because of IPL, we get to see too many talented options as there are so many matches being played. That certainly speaks about depth of Indian cricket.

“So when you get an option to compare his exploits with others and the opportunities to play T20Is get shared.”