Gavaskar: Ashwin will win WC for India

Sunil Gavaskar usually doesn’t joke when he makes a statement on Live international television. Sunny certainly wasn’t fooling when he told a panel of experts that “R. Ashwin will win the World Cup for India.”

It was the customary Cricket Extra show on STAR Cricket channel after India defeated the West Indies by 80 runs at Chennai on Sunday night. Harsha Bhogle was anchoring the studio chat alongside Pat Symcox, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sourav Ganguly. Gavaskar and Ian Bishop were at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

On a question on Ashwin, who took two for 41 in his full quota of 10 overs, Gavaskar said: “Ashwin will win India the World Cup.” For a young man who just made his Cup debut, this was quite a telling statement from a man whose words carry a lot of weight.

Ashwin justified his selection ahead of Piyush Chawla or an Ashish Nehra. His bowling was neat and intelligent. Skipper MS Dhoni gave him the new ball and he had the right attitude to step in and deliver. With the bat, he was unbeaten on 10 off seven balls as the rest of the batting collapsed. Hence, Gavaskar’s faith in Ashwin seems justified.

Gavaskar said India badly needed a left-arm spinner at this stage. Although Yuvraj Singh was doing a fairly good job, Sunny felt the need of a specialist. He even suggested tongue-in-cheek that India should “injure” one of its pacemen and then ask for a substitute. Hope the ICC is not listening!