Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has put his weight behind rookie pacer Anshul Kamboj despite the pacer’s underwhelming debut against England. Kamboj conceded 89 runs in 18 overs he bowled and picked up a wicket of Ben Duckett.
The fast bowler looked underprepared for the Test match as he could not hit the right areas. Furthermore, the pacer from Haryana also lacked in speed as he bowled around the 130 km/h mark.
However, Ashwin said we should back Anshul Kamboj and he is hopeful that the greenhorn would learn with experience.
“It is important for us to rally behind our cricketers when they are not having a great time. Even if Anshul plays ten Tests and doesn’t do great its okay. A boy from Haryana has put so much effort and worked hard to make it to India. It is still a success story. We should remember he has reached here. It is a success story. We have not reached there, so let us have a little bit of compassion towards them. We must back our players. Everyone will praise if he does well. When there is a bad day we need to get behind them. If he is not good enough he gets dropped its okay, that will happen. But he has put in the effort. Let’s appreciate the effort,” he said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash ki Baat’.
On the other hand, Gill scored an impressive knock of 78 runs on the fourth day of the fourth Test against England. Ashwin said Gill will learn as a leader and showered praise on the Indian captain for leading from the front. Gill has already scored 697 runs in the series.
Ashwin said, “Almost in every game we are in a position to win, in this game also we are fighting to draw. Shubman Gill should be proud of himself. A youngster leading for the first time away from home is allowed to have bad days, he will learn from this. But he has kept this aside, come out and batted like a champion.”
Indian batters would look to bring their best on the final day’s play.