Ravi Ashwin reacts to Sanjay Manjrekar's 'all-time great explained' tweet with a famous movie dialogue

Ravi Ashwin is one of the most dynamic Indian cricketers at the present point in time, especially in Test cricket. Having picked up 409 wickets from 78 matches with as many as 30 five wicket-hauls, the Tamil Nadu-born has shown his class time and again. Though he has lost his place from the ODI and T20I teams, he remains a key aspect of the side in the purest format.

He also has four Test tons against the West Indies and one against England earlier this year at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In the meantime, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reckoned that Ashwin can’t yet be listed among the ‘all-time greats’. Among the current players, he included national skipper Virat Kohli, but refrained from picking up Ashwin.

Manjrekar took to Twitter and wrote, “‘All- time great’ is the highest praise & acknowledgement given to a cricketer. Cricketers like Don Bradman, Sobers, Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Virat etc are all time greats in my book. With due respect, Ashwin not quite there as an all-time great yet. #AllTimeGreatExplained,”

Ashwin had a cheeky reply to Manjrekar’s comments. The veteran picked up a dialogue from a Tamil movie, Aparachith, while replying to the commentator. He reverted in Tamil, which roughly translates to, “Don’t say like that… My heart is paining,”

Here’s Ravi Ashwin’s reply

Earlier, Ian Chappell, the former Australian cricketer, said that Ashwin is a better bowler than Nathan Lyon, who’s one wicket short of picking 400 Test wickets.

“I think Ashwin is a better bowler than Nathan Lyon. Have a look at Nathan Lyon’s strike rate, you are in the 70s and I am going back to 2018. Yes, he is a fine bowler but I think Ashwin is a better bowler,” Chappell was quoted as saying.

Ashwin is also among the leading wicket-takers in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship. In fact, with 67 wickets under his belt, he is only four wickets away from ending as the top wicket-taker of the tournament.

Pat Cummins is sitting at the top with 70 wickets from 14 games. Ashwin is currently gearing up for the WTC final against New Zealand to start on June 18 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.