Ravichandran Ashwin hails MS Dhoni for his wicket-keeping skills during 2013 Border Gavaskar trophy

MS Dhoni, arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batter of India was phenomenal behind the stumps during the 2013 Border Gavaskar trophy. Even with the bat, the two-time world champion was just behind Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara on the list of most runs in the series. However, it were his exceptional wicket-keeping skills during the series that left many in awe of him including Ravichandran Ashwin.

The former India captain was involved in 14 dismissals, nine more than any other wicket-keeper that played in the series. His skills were very much tested on the turning tracks of Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi and he excelled in every single match. On the back of his stellar performance and leadership skills, team India white-washed Australia by 4-0 and bagged the prestigious Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2013. 

Ashwin, the leading wicket-taker of the series quoted a tweet on Saturday praising MS Dhoni’s performance. The off-spinner retweeted the video and wrote “Hands” with two star-eye emojis.

Hands🤩🤩 https://t.co/7zNiDgx3EC

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) September 24, 2022

Coming back to the series, it was not easy to keep wickets on rank turners and especially with quality spinners like Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha on show. However, Dhoni made it look very easy. He did it for over a decade in international cricket and is still brilliant behind the stumps in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ravi Ashwin was spotted playing gully cricket with youngsters

The inclusion of Ravi Ashwin in India's 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup was surprising for many cricketing experts. Ravi Bishnoi, young leg-spinner, who did well in the limited opportunities he got is one of the standby players as the team management valued the experience of Ashwin more for the mega tournament.

Despite all the criticisms, Ashwin is trying to keep himself calm and not paying enough attention to outside noise.

Even though he is currently being benched predominantly, Ashwin has always expressed how he wants to give it back to the fans. Thus, just before India’s second T20I against Australia in Nagpur, the off-spinner spent some time with the local cricketers and played gully cricket. The 36-year-old took to Instagram to share a video saying, “Nothing can beat Area Cricket.”