After a heated social media exchange with a user on X, former India cricketer Laxman Shivaramakrishnan has apparently salvaged the situation on what he’d wrote regarding off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Laxman stated that Indian pitches are doctored to suit the bowling of Ashwin. He further said “Any fool will get wickets on tampered pitches in India.”
It all started when the start-studded commentary panel for ICC ODI World Cup 2023 was revealed. The list includes a mix of experts across the cricket vertical, but as per Laxman, it lacks a genuine ex-spinner, who could impart knowledge about spin to the public. Though, the catalogue does have Lisa Sthalekar and Samuel Badree but the former spinner held on to his statement. A user reacted to his statement and seemingly dwelled on the reason behind the spinners’ absence, he stated that it might be because Team India has struggled off late against spin, moreover, spin may not play much role in the upcoming World Cup as flat tracks are expected throughout the tournament. To this, Shivaramakrishnan made a bold remark. He wrote, the doctered pitches for Ashwin in India is the reason behind the team’s poor show against spin. He justified his stance by urging the user to take a look at Ashwin’s statistics in SENA countries.
The matters turned sharp afterwards as another user jumped in. The netizen rebuked Laxman for highlighting Ashwin’s name when he has more wickets than him. To which Shiva did not sugarcoat and instead wrote, “Any fool will get wickets on tampered pitches in India.”
Following the Twitter tussle, Laxman has further posted a comment regarding the incident. This time he informed that he and Ashwin had a cordial conversation regarding the matter and all his fine and then wished him luck for the World Cup.
