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Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, who last feature in the two-match Test series against South Africa, has now hit back at the former England cricketer Michael Vaughan. This comes after Vaughan remarked India as an “underachieving” team after their loss in the first Test by a margin of an inning and 32 runs.
While commentating on FOX Cricket during the Australian versus Pakistan Test series, Vaughan had said, “Here’s a question for you - India, in terms of cricket, are they one of the most under-achieving sport team in the world?” However, the Indian star all-rounder has come with a befitting reply.
“Michael Vaughan made a statement after the first Test that India is an underachieving team. Yes, we haven’t won ICC trophies for years. We call ourselves the powerhouses of the game. But the Test team has been one of the best travelling teams in the vicinity. We have seen many great results,” Ashwin responded to Michael Vaughan’s remarks in his YouTube channel.
“After he said that, so many experts from our own country started questioning if India is an underachieving team. Frankly, it made me laugh. Picture yourself. Just reverse the situation. SA batted first in this Test after winning the toss. If SA had batted first after winning the toss in Centurion, wasn’t there a chance they could have gotten all out by 65? Even India was staring at the barrel at 20/3, thanks to Virat and Shreyas’ partnership from there to save us,” he further added.
R Ashwin criticies critics of the Indian team
Speaking further on his YouTube channel, Ashwin further added that the Indian team is criticised and judged too much, which further gets into unnecessary detailing. “So, both cricket and Test cricket are differentiated by fine margins. In a country like India, where we talk cricket in every nook and cranny and consider the sport a religion, I feel we criticise and nitpick too much and get into unnecessary details. I think these are blinding us,” Ashwin said.
The 37-year-old further added that the India team has always proved themselves despite several questions and eyebrows raised.
