Ravichandran Ashwin opened the innings for RR, but failed to make an impact with the bat (RR Twitter)
Sanju Samson spilled the beans why Ravichandran Ashwin opened the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal during RR’s 5-run defeat to PBKS in IPL 2023
Ravichandran Ashwin is a man of multiple talents. He can bowl, bat and is a keen observer of the game. On Wednesday, the Rajasthan Royals ace opened the innings for his franchise as faced Punjab Kings at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati in an IPL 2023 contest.
The ploy failed as Ashwin was gotten rid for a four-ball duck but the sight of the offspinner walking out to open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the chase of 198 surely was a little surprising.
In his post-match comments, RR skipper Sanju Samson revealed that a minor injury scare for Jos Buttler was the reason why they promoted Ashwin into the top order.
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Samson revealed Buttler injured himself while completing a couple of sublime catches on the field. Since the Royals wanted Devdutt Padikkal to take on the PBKS spinners and had to demote Buttler due to the injury, Ashwin was asked to to open.
“Jos wasn’t fully fit, he injured his finger while taking the catch, the thinking behind keeping Padikkal (in the middle order) was to tackle their two spinners in the middle overs,” said Samson.
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After losing three wickets early, Samson smashed 42 runs to keep his side in the chase as runs continued to flow but they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession which gave the advantage to Punjab Kings.
The inaugural IPL champs though showed great determination with impact sub Dhurv Jurel who replaced Yuzvendra Chahal partnering with Shimron Hetmyer to take RR closer.
Jurel returned unbeaten for 32 and Samson was full of praise for the Indian youngster after his scintillating display.
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“The coaches have put a lot of work behind him, we had a work week camp before the IPL, but the way they have worked a lot of time in our academies, having faced 1000s of balls and I’m happy with the way they’re progressing,” said Samson.
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