The Sunshine Skipper

How spinner R. Ashwin has evolved as a player and as a leader

- Vimal Kumar

REGARDLESS OF the final result of IPL 2018, it can be rightly argued that Ravichandran Ashwin has defied popular perception by being one of the most impressive captains of the tournament. From the very beginning, Ashwin had indicated that he was willing to take difficult decisions. Kings XI Punjab might not have qualified for the IPL play-offs but they did come close, winning five out of their first six games, with some incredible performances and seemed cohesive as an unit.

Ashwin took some exceptionally bold decisions which included not selecting Chris Gayle in the initial games and also dropping a T20 icon like Yuvraj Singh. Not to forget the fact that the captain didn’t hesitate to bench the only retained player of the franchise. Axar Patel played just two games out of the first seven. Clearly, the captain chose form over reputation and it also explained why the likes of David Miller and Mohit Sharma were not regulars in the playing XI, despite being committed to the franchise. Trusting young Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman to defend 17 runs against Delhi Daredevils in Delhi was perhaps, a masterstroke by Ashwin.