 "Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had earlier been critical of R Ashwin on social media. PTI")
Ravichandran Ashwin is currently playing his 100th Test match in Dharamsala. Ashwin joined an elite group of Indian cricketers, becoming the 14th player to achieve this remarkable milestone. Ahead of the landmark fixture, former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has claimed Ashwin neglected his attempts to reach out and offer him good luck. Sharing his feelings on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Sivaramakrishnan wrote that all his attempts to congratulate Ashwin were unsuccessful since he ignored his calls and messages.
“Tried calling him a few times to wish him for his 100th Test. Just cut off my call. Sent him a message, no reply. That’s the respect we former cricketers get,” Sivaramakrishnan replied to one of the posts praising Ashwin.
Now, as soon as he posted this comment, social media users reminded Sivaramakrishnan of his previous critical remarks about Ashwin’s skills. Last year, Sivaramakrishnan had made disparaging remarks, referring to Ashwin’s success on Indian pitches as not very great and even questioning his fielding abilities and overall fitness.
Ashwin entered the prestigious 100-Test club along with legendary figures like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli, among others. Team India skipper Rohit Sharma, showered praise on Ashwin during the pre-match press conference and called him a “rare” talent and a true match-winner for Team India.
“R Ashwin for us is a big match-winner for us. Whatever he has done for the team in all these years, any praise is less because if you look at his performances in the last 5-7 years, every series he has contributed big. So players like these are rare,” Rohit said at the pre-match press conference in Dharamsala on Wednesday.
“I want to congratulate him for his 100 Test landmark, of course to get near it as the toss hasn’t happened. It feels good to reap rewards of your hard work. As a captain, I have seen him since U-19, U-17 days. He batted at that time, was an opener and then he started bowling. And I used to bowl and then became a batsman, so it became up and down for us but it has been good for Indian cricket,” the India captain added.
Team India headed into the final fixture of the series having claimed an unassailable 3-1 lead against England. Despite winning the Test series opener, the Ben Stokes-led side failed to retain their lead.