'Ricky Ponting and I are socially distanced' - Ravi Ashwin on Instagram

Indian off-spinner Ravi Ashwin will be representing the franchise Delhi Capitals in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League which is slated to begin from September 19 across three venues namely Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. The spinner captained Kings XI Punjab in the last season but was traded to DC ahead of the 2020 edition of the cash-rich league.

Last year while captaining Kings XI Punjab, Ashwin had dismissed the Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler by running him out as he was backing up on the non-striker’s end. This had led to a huge controversy. While some had supported the spinner saying that this is within the rules of the sport, many had criticized him for not maintaining the spirit of the game.

Meanwhile, it is speculated that there is a cold war going on between the Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting and Ashwin regarding the concept of ‘running out non-striker’ while he is backing up. It had all started with the Australian captain thrashing Ashwin saying that he won’t be allowed to ‘Mankad’ any batsman in Capitals as this is not the way they play their cricket and it is against the spirit of the gentleman’s game. He had added that he will be having a “hard conversation” with the Indian Stalwart and he hopes that Ashwin takes it to the chin.

Ravi Ashwin takes a hilarious jibe at his camaraderie with Ricky Ponting

The duo is together in UAE as the members of the Delhi team began training after serving a mandatory six-day quarantine period and undergoing various rounds of coronavirus tests. Though it is yet to be known whether the two had that impending ‘hard chat’ or not, Ashwin took a friendly jibe on the controversy that has erupted between the duo.

On Tuesday, the Indian spinner took to Instagram to share a picture of DC skipper Shreyas Iyer and Ponting greeting each other by touching their elbows while he can be seen looking at the duo from some way behind. The 33-year-old captioned the picture as, “@rickyponting and I are socially distanced. @shreyas41”

Taking note of the caption, Iyer also reacted to the post saying, “Pretty much @rashwin99.” To this Ashwin cheekily replied that the skipper is making sure that the peace is being made between the members of the team. The off-spinner replied to Iyer, “The skipper is making sure that peace is being made”