Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ruled out of Worcestershire return

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been ruled out of a Worcestershire return following a hip injury.

Speaking about Ashwin’s injury, which will keep him out of the two Championship games in September, Matt Rawnsley, chief executive of Worcestershire said: “It’s a shame Ravichandran Ashwin will not be able to return to us because he made such a big impact here in 2017 and was keen to come back. He has gone on record about how much he enjoyed it here last summer.”

“But the injury he has been struggling with in the Test series against England means that it is not possible and we wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. We are exploring our options for an overseas replacement for the final two Championship matches,” he further added.

Ashwin aggravated his injury during the fourth Test at Southampton where he copped a lot of criticism for not being able to trouble the England batsmen on a pitch which was conducive for spinners. While Ashwin could pick only three wickets, Moeen Ali tormented the Indian batting and bagged nine wickets in the match.

Captain Virat Kohli admitted that the off-spinner did aggravate his injury at Southampton and was subsequently replaced by Ravindra Jadeja in the fifth Test match.

Ashwin did get off to a bumper start in the series as he picked up seven wickets in the first Test match at Edgbaston. However, his performances ever since has gradually slipped away as he was able to scalp only four wickets in the next three matches and had to eventually miss out on the Oval Test owing to the aforementioned injury.

First Published: Sep 11, 2018 13:17 IST