Ravi Ashwin has picked up 450 wickets and unfortunately, we are still not celebrating him enough: Aakash Chopra

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has heaped massive praise on star India spinner Ravi Ashwin, stating that he is precisely the biggest asset for the Indian men's team in the current times.

Ashwin was instrumental in India's thumping victory over Australia in the opening Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, in Nagpur. He finished with figures of 5/37 in Australia's second innings, which left the visitors desperately searching for answers.

Ravi Ashwin is one of the biggest match-winners that India has ever produced: Aakash Chopra

"Ravichandran Ashwin has picked up 450 wickets and unfortunately, we are still not celebrating him enough. Just like Rohit Sharma the Test opener, similarly Ravichandran Ashwin the Test bowler. One of the biggest match-winners that India has ever produced. Kumble sahab and then Ravichandran Ashwin," the 45-year-old said while speaking in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

The former batter opined that Ashwin's contributions to Indian cricket is something that needs to be preserved and valued a lot, as a combination of brains with immense skills is something which is very rare in sport. Ashwin's ability to amalgamate his terrific spin skills and deceive the opposition have largely aided India from coming out unscathed in many odd situations.

Chopra further went on to elucidate what sets the 36-year-old apart from other spinners is that no matter whatever the pitch conditions are, Ashwin on most occasions ends up being the highest wicket-taker. His consistency is his biggest attribute.

"When you talk to a lot of cricketers, they say that these pitches are very bad, if you bowl here you will get wickets. Not everyone gets wickets. Four to five spinners play in a match, he still picks up the most wickets."

Ashwin knows how to pick up wickets and in different, different conditions as well: Chopra

On a concluding note, Chopra said that Ashwin has perfectly inculcated the art of taking wickets. However, Chopra believes that in recent times, the standard of defensive batting have definitely deteriorated but feels that comparing different eras wouldn't be just.

"It means he knows how to pick up wickets and in different, different conditions as well. Any batter might come in front of him, he finds a way to pick up wickets. One thing has definitely changed, although you shouldn't compare eras, the defensive game of the batters has gone slightly down," he concluded.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store