Fans unhappy as Ashwin forgets to mention MS Dhoni in his appreciation speech

Ravichandran Ashwin, despite becoming the third India player and 12th player overall to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016, drew the tire of unhappy fans as they criticised him for not mentioning him in the appreciation speech which he gave after winning the honours. By winning the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, Ashwin has emulated the likes of Rahul Dravid (2004) and Sachin Tendulkar (2010).

Ashwin ends the year as the number one all-rounder the Tests format having taken 48 wickets in 8 Tests and scored 336 runs, got 4 wickets in 2 ODIs and 27 wickets from 19 T20I matches from September 14, 2015, to September 20, 2016.

“I would also like to thank ICC and most importantly my teammates; we have had a great transition ever since Mahendra Sing Dhoni hung his boots in Australia. We have had a transition a young captain has taken over and we actually fell on the right track and we have a great bunch of boys now. I would also like to dedicate it to the entire team and the support staff, all the skill coaches Sanjay Bangar, Sridhar and Anil Kumble who has joined us and not to forget Ravi Shastri.” Ashwin said mentioning everyone who has been a part of this journey with him.

“It is a great feeling I never went after this particular award. I am extremely humbled. It feels great to follow the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in being named as the ICC Cricketer of the Year. To also win the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year makes it even better. Rahul and Sachin are two people who were instrumental in me pursuing my career in cricket. They really motivated me to take the sport up.”

Like mentioned above the MS Dhoni fans surely noticed Ashwin not mentioning MS Dhoni his former Test skipper who also leads him in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ashwin came into public reckoning largely due to his IPL performances where he flourished under MS Dhoni.

It won’t be wrong to say that MS Dhoni definitely played a huge role in Ashwin’s upcoming at the international level. The fans definitely wanted to hear about Dhoni in his appreciation speech. But, after seeing his name missing from the list of people the off-spinner thanked for his achievements, the followers were obviously not happy at all. The effect of it was truly visible on twitter.