'I think there is more to it than just cricketing performance of Ashwin that has kept him out of the team,' says Sunil Gavaskar

After Team India returned from the West Indies tour, the fans were happy with the performance of the players but there was some discontent shown by the former players about the selection that was taken by the team management. During the Caribbean tour of India, everyone was shocked when Ashwin was not selected in the playing XI on the Test tour, after looking forward to his record on that soil.

Ravichandran Ashwin has been out of favor since long from the limited-overs squad but was a regular face in Tests but was kept out of the team with Ravinder Jadeja who is an all-rounder was given preference over him on the tour. Now the little master has laid down his opinion over Ashwin’s absence from the longest format and looks anxious with the behavior shown by the management towards Ashwin.

Gavaskar opines over the inconsistency of Ashwin in Tests

Sunil Gavaskar feels that Ashwin is not made comfortable and this is the reason that we can see the spinner has struggled a lot, “Ashwin should be a certainty. The fact that he has not been made to feel the comfort level is the reason why we are seeing him struggle a little bit. He has also got to feel he has got the confidence of the people around him. When you don’t have the confidence of people around you, when you keep getting sidelined, then you try a little too hard,” said Gavaskar as quoted by Hindustan Times.

The little master also thinks that he should not be compared with any bowler around the world, and his absence from the team is nothing to do with his performances but it is beyond that, “I think, there are always these little comparisons he suffers from. When playing in Australia, he is compared to Nathan Lyon. He is doing that doing this. But Lyon is bowling to the Indian batsmen. I think there is more to it than just cricketing performances which is the reason he just finds himself sidelined more often than somebody with his record should be. Somebody who has got almost 350 wickets can’t be sidelined as regularly as he has been.” he added.

Ashwin is currently playing the first Test match of the series against South Africa at Vishakhapatnam and has been brilliant with the ball for the Indian lads. He has consolidated a fifer against the Proteas registering brilliant bowling figures of 41-11-128-5. This is the 27th occasion for him that he has managed to get five or more wickets in a Test match.

Watch: Cricket Academy of Pathans in Patna