The Rajasthan Royals became the first team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season to lose a match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team that had gone winless in its first six matches of the season. The closely fought contest went down to the wire, with Rinku Singh lifting KKR with an exemplary 53 off 34 balls, while Anukul Roy added 29 off 16 to take the team home in the final over.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said, “You have a world-class left-arm spinner. Sure, numbers and data can tell you something, but he has conceded only 9 or 11 runs in three overs and taken two wickets.”
“When Rinku Singh tried to hit, he was so close to getting out, but you thought, ‘I am an off-spinner; I can put pressure on these two left-handers, but Jaddu won’t be able to.’ Though Ravi Bishnoi can, you felt Jaddu won’t be able to. I am telling you, this is the mindset. It is possible that Jaddu bowls and the batter hits two sixes, but by not bowling him, you are not showing trust in your bowling unit in the long term,” Ashwin said again.
While Ashwin isn’t in complete denial of the data and analytics that discourage using a left-arm spinner against left-handed batters, especially in the death overs, he said that Parag’s lack of trust in Jadeja is baffling, as he was one of RR’s best bowlers on the day. He argued that by opting against using the veteran southpaw, the captain creates a sense of mistrust, so much so that Jadeja would no longer feel he even needs to try bowling against a left-handed batter.
“If a left-arm spinner knows he isn’t wanted against a left-hander, he won’t even try. As a captain or team management, if you are telling him, ‘This is not your job,’ look at what happens to the ball. You won four out of five games, and in this party, if Ravindra Jadeja had taken that wicket of Rinku Singh, he would have been the Man of the Match today. If he becomes the Man of the Match, the Rajasthan Royals become a solid 7-8 player team; the way your team looks then is so good.
“It is possible that you can lose, but understand that you should lose with one of your better bowlers having bowled. Does it ever happen that you don’t send Mitchell Marsh to bat? You don’t send Rishabh Pant? You don’t send Nicholas Pooran? That never happens. So, what I am saying is that if you can take Brijesh Sharma, who has no experience in the IPL, and give him the 18th and 20th overs in his first game, you can definitely give them to Jadeja. You can give them to Bishnoi, but you can also give them to Jadeja,” concluded R Ashwin.
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