Rajasthan‘s dream of winning the second title of the India T20 League was shattered on May 29 after losing to Gujarat. They entered the game with the objective to win the title so that they pay tributes to Late Shane Warne. However, Gujarat had other plans. After restricting the 2008 winners to 130/9, they chased down the target after losing only three wickets.
Hardik Pandya’s men won their maiden title in their debut season. The best part of this was they did it in front of their home ground in Ahmedabad. After the game where the Blue Brigade was celebrating the triumph, the Sanju Samson-led side was dealing with the loss on the other hand. After the award ceremony, the Jaipur-based team director of cricket operations Kumar Sangakara said a few words about Ravichandran Ashwin.
Sangakkara said that Ashwin has done a great job for the team but needs to improve in certain areas. The former Sri Lanka skipper was referring to the off-spinner’s excessive use of variations and less use of stock ball.
“Ash (Ashwin) has done a great job for us,” Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference after Rajasthan lost the final.
“Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of improvements and thinking to do, especially with his off-spinners and bowl more of it,” Sangakkara commented about the team’s oldest member, who could manage only 12 wickets in 17 games this season.
The 36-year-old has been seeing using a carrom balls a lot in the last two seasons of the cash-rich league. Last season, when he played for Delhi, he used carrom balls which diminished his returns compared to seasons 2019 and 2020. In seasons 2019 (playing for Punjab) and 2020 (playing for Delhi), he returned with 15 and 13 wickets respectively. Next year, he could only take seven wickets in 13 games and looked defensive which was the case in this season as well.
