IPL 2022: Ashwin needs to think of improvement and bowl more off-spinners, says Kumar Sangakkara
IPL 2022: Ravichandran Ashwin is a great in his own right, but Rajasthan Royals Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara believes he can still develop by bowling more conventional off-break deliveries.
The 36-year-old experienced off-spinner is noted for experimenting with his bowling and is India’s second best Test wicket taker (442). He bowls the traditional off-breaks less frequently than the carrom balls that go away from right-handed bowlers.
“Ash (Ashwin) has done a great job for us,” Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference after RR lost to Gujarat Titans by seven wickets in the IPL final on Sunday.
“Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of improvements and thinking to do, especially with his off-spinners and bowl more of it,” Sangakkara commented about the team’s oldest member, who could manage only 12 wickets in 17 games this season.
In the final, the ace off-spinner chose to bowl a lot of carrom balls rather than regular off-spin. While defending a modest 130, he gave up 32 runs in three overs without taking any wickets.
RR were restricted to 130/9 after electing to bat first, which was chased down by GT in 18.1 overs, and Sangakkara felt the total would never be enough.
“It was a tough one. 130 was never enough. We were debating whether to put them in (to bat) first as well. By the time we arrived at the ground, we looked at the pitch, it was pretty dry and we thought it will get slower and maybe offer a little bit of turn for our spinners. So, we were expecting to get about 160-165.”
After a strong start to the innings, he felt his squad enabled the opposition bowlers to enter the game.
“We were really well-set in our batting innings at 70/1 at the half-way mark until Sanju (Samson) got out. And then they came and bowled some beautiful overs and we let Gujarat back into the game.”
“(With) 130, we need a bit of luck and some quick wickets in the powerplay. We did get two but unfortunately we didn’t get (Shubman) Gill in that first over and the run-rate never went above seven.
“It was always going to be tough. It was hardly about calculations and maths and just about trying and getting a couple of wickets. And break through that (David) Miller and Hardik (Pandya) and Gill partnerships, but we were unable to do it,” he conceded.
‘Lot of improvements needed’
Despite a successful season and a second-place finish, Sangakkara believes the team needs to improve in a number of areas.
“Well we have got a lot of improving to do in all areas. If you take our batting, we had huge contributions from Jos (Buttler), Sanju, and Shimron Hetymer at the early stages.
“Riyan (Parag) and Devdutt (Padikkal) really played well in patches, but I think in terms of overall performance, we need a little bit more from the support role players as well,” he said.
When it comes to Riyan Parag, the veteran keeper-batsman believes the youngster can help boost Rajasthan’s middle order.
“I think Riyan Parag, he has got huge amount of potential. And we got to work him into higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to kind of grooming him to become a more of a kind of an early middle-order player rather than just a death-hitter.
“Because, I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace,” the Sri Lankan batting great noted.
Sangakkara concluded by noting that this was the best and strongest eleven with which RR had ever played.
“…but when you take the quality of players that we had. This was the best side and the strongest side (that) we put out on the park,” he said.
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