The return of Ravichandran Ashwin Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was not the most fruitful, the veteran spinner having difficulty picking counters. So far this season, the launcher has only chosen three counters in the first three games while fleeing races at an economic rate of 9.90. Ashwin used to get a reputation for being a bowler player who does not concede too many races, but that no longer seems to be the case. In the season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the strikers did not pay much attention to the reputation that Ashwin is while deciding to take the aggressive road against him.
The former captain of England Michael Vaughan believes that the new generation focuses more on the ball than the launcher in his pursuit of races.
“I guess a few years ago, they probably showed him a lot of respect and during team meetings, they said, oh we will probably hit Ashwin for 24 to 28 Spit.
“They have obviously probably seen all of his deliveries, on several occasions, so maybe they choose it a little better with the hand and if you do it, you are more likely to hit the ball. I just think that it is a different approach in terms of mentality. I just think that if it is in their area, it is, okay, we don’t care,” he added.
Although it is not to deny that Ashwin is a veteran of the game who won many titles during his career, it is the “We don Fare” approach to the strikers who earned them great awards against the Spinner CSK.
“We are not careful who it is. The name is not relevant. It is just the ball that is going down. It is an excellent mentality to have. We were still used to saying the ball, not the name. It was quite funny by saying this to a side England against Shane Warne,” said Vaughan.
“It is quite difficult to convince the players that you simply face the ball, but I think this modern player, they really look at the ball and think that it can be struck, no matter the name,” he added.
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