IPL 2019: Harsha Bhogle calls Ravi Ashwin a standout leader, compares with MS Dhoni

The Kings XI Punjab broke their two-match losing streak by defeating Rajasthan Royals at their home and much of the contribution came from their skipper Ravi Ashwin. The KXIP team is now at the fourth spot in the IPL 2019 points table with 5 wins from 9 matches and 10 points.

Ashwin was amazing with the bat and the ball against RR, as he first slammed 17* in 4 balls with 2 sixes and then picked two important wickets of Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi, to halt the Royals’ charge against Punjab. His Man of the Match performance got praise from ace commentator Harsha Bhogle, who called him a standout leader.

Harsha Bhogle compares Ashwin’s captaincy to Dhoni’s

“So why are they doing well? The key has been the captain. It is fashionable to look for weaknesses in R Ashwin but with Dhoni, he has been the standout leader of this IPL. You look at that team and you know straight away who the leader is. He hasn’t shied away from taking decisions, has been vocal and been happy to be in the eye of the storm himself. And, yes, he has bowled magnificently. If the Kings make the playoffs, with the resources they have, it will be a huge triumph for Ashwin,” Bhogle wrote in his column in Times of India.

Bhogle, further in his column calls KXIP the sleeper hit of the IPL 2019. He writes that people had questioned the balance of the team, had written him off, which were valid queries. He said that it is not yet known, whether they will make it to the playoffs, but with the resources available to them, they should do it.

Bhogle praises KXIP for utilizing their resources brilliantly

Bhogle also praised Ashwin for using players to the best of their abilities. He discussed how Ashwin used a barely formidable bowling attack to defend a par score of 182 runs against Royals.

“Mohd Shami, having an excellent tournament but possessed of an otherwise ordinary T20 record, R Ashwin who isn’t considered for white ball cricket, Murugan Ashwin, one of many leg spinners, Arshdeep Singh, hardly heard of and Mujeeb, the highly rated young Afghani who is having an average tournament. There was no sixth option to speak of. And yet, except for a few overs, they didn’t let the Royals into the game,” he wrote.

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