I think Ashwin has done better than Ian Botham: Kapil Dev

Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev who is also regarded as the best all-rounder that India has ever produced is full of praises for Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who is also the number 1 ranked Test all-rounder at the moment. Ashwin who is currently on the tour of West Indies had a great start to the season as he scored a century batting at number 6 and followed it up with a 7-wicket haul in West Indies’ second inning.  The performance earned him the man of the match award and also pats on the back for taking up the role of the all-rounder in the squad.

Team India under Test skipper Virat Kohli has adopted the 5-bowler attacking option and that leaves them a bowler short. They opted for all the five specialists in the first and the second Test and that puts that much more responsibility on Ashwin’s shoulders who has been promoted higher up the batting order.

Kapil was asked for his views on Ashwin as an all-rounder and he said, “I think he has shown that already,”

“In such short time, he has achieved everything that no other all-rounder has done. He has got 1000 runs and 100 wickets and I think he has done better than Ian Botham in terms of the number of matches.”

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The World Cup winning skipper feels that Ashwin’s all-round performance has given Kohli the license to go in with the combination he has been rooting for since he took over captaincy in 2015.

“It takes guts to go in with five bowlers but if Ashwin can bat like he showed in the first Test, that is great. You do need quality all-rounders so that the management can build a great team,” he said.

Like Sourav Ganguly, Kapil also believes it’s too early to start assessing Kohli as a skipper but noted that he has shown the right kind of mindset to lead the team.

“I think it is too early to assess him. We need to give him a few series before assessing and comparing him. He has shown good potential and has a mind of his own which is very good,” Kapil said.

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