IPL 2018: Virender Sehwag justifies the reasons for selecting Ravi Ashwin as the captain

Ravichandran Ashwin has carved a reputation for himself as a reliable cricketer over the years. The Tamil Nadu-born cricketer has also been plying his trade in the Indian Premier League for several years. He was an integral part of the Chennai Super Kings franchise for eight seasons. However, after CSK’s suspension, he moved to the Rising Pune Supergiants.

He was bagged by the Kings XI Punjab for INR 7.6 crores in the auction at Bangalore. Most recently, he has also been crowned as the skipper of the franchise ahead of Yuvraj Singh. Virender Sehwag made the official announcement in a Facebook live video on the official page of the franchise. He also justified the reasons behind Ashwin’s appointment as the captain.

Viru’s support for Ashwin

“90% of our fans were saying Yuvraj Singh was the best choice. But I was looking at someone different. I always thought that a bowler should be made the captain because I was a big fan of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Kapil Dev. They did very well for their teams, I thought a bowler would be the best candidate for our team’s captaincy. Yuvraj Singh was also there in our minds. But a lot of votes from our support staff and owners went to Ashwin,” Sehwag said.

The former Indian cricketer also talked about his healthy equations with Yuvraj Singh, however, affirmed that friendships shouldn’t influence cricketing decisions. “Yuvraj is one of my best friends. But friendship doesn’t influence my cricketing decisions. We are thinking long-term. We are looking at having Ashwin as captain for the next three to four years. However, it also depends on how the upcoming season goes for us,” Viru added.

Kings XI Punjab hasn’t won the Indian Premier League thus far in the ten seasons. The franchise’s best performance came in 2014 when they stormed to the Final only to lose against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Wriddhiman Saha scored a brilliant hundred but was overshadowed by Manish Pandey as Punjab slumped to a defeat. Nevertheless, with Ashwin’s selection as the skipper, Punjab would be hoping to perform well and go deep into the tournament.

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