{"id":441253,"date":"2026-02-23T13:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/441253\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:35:08","slug":"r-ashwin-slams-gautam-gambhir-led-team-management-for-dropping-vice-captain-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/441253\/","title":{"rendered":"R Ashwin slams Gautam Gambhir-led team management for dropping vice-captain | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/colombo-sri-lanka-feb-15-ani-india39s-axar-patel-with-skipper-suryakumar-y.jpg\" alt=\"'Axar Patel has been your MVP': R Ashwin slams Gautam Gambhir-led team management for dropping vice-captain\" title=\" India's Axar Patel, with skipper Suryakumar Yadav (ANI Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> India&#8217;s Axar Patel, with skipper Suryakumar Yadav (ANI Photo) Former India off-spinner <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/ravichandran-ashwin\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ravichandran Ashwin<\/a> has questioned the team management\u2019s decision to leave out <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/axar-patel\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Axar Patel<\/a> for the crucial Super 8 clash against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2026.India opted to persist with <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/washington-sundar\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Sundar<\/a> in the playing XI, citing his favourable match-up against left-handers. However, the move did not pay off. Sundar bowled two overs for 17 runs and failed to make an impact with the bat, scoring 11 at No.5, ahead of Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube. India went on to suffer a heavy 76-run defeat. <\/p>\n<p>Why India are in deep trouble | T20 World Cup 2026 | India vs South Africa<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on his YouTube channel \u2018Ash Ki Baat\u2019, Ashwin said that while match-up strategies may work in franchise cricket, they are not always suited to international tournaments, where stability is key.\u201cI agree that the IPL is good for match-ups, but you have to change the team because you are going to play 14 games. But in such ICC campaigns, the more stable you can keep the team, the better,&#8221; Ashwin said.&#8221;I agree 100 per cent that you have to use Washington Sundar against left-handers; you have to play him, I agree with all that. But Axar Patel has been your MVP in T20 cricket. Let&#8217;s not forget what Axar Patel has done,\u201d he added.Making a strong case for Axar\u2019s return, Ashwin referred to the all-rounder\u2019s contribution in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, when India were under pressure in the chase against South Africa.\u201cIn the previous World Cup, in the situation against South Africa, in which India was in the chase, Axar Patel came in under the same circumstances. He stitched a partnership with Virat Kohli, and India crossed 170. Of course, Kohli&#8217;s experience was there, but Axar is not inferior. If India had a few wickets in hand and stability in the middle overs, they would have chased the target down,\u201d said Ashwin.Axar, who is India\u2019s vice-captain, was first rested for the match against the Netherlands and then overlooked again for the Super 8 fixture in Ahmedabad. With the defeat leaving India\u2019s semi-final hopes hanging in the balance, the focus will now shift to their next encounter against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s Axar Patel, with skipper Suryakumar Yadav (ANI Photo) Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned the team&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[160609,83667,1721,27710,9981,160610,30145,4247,101,30688,56,54,55,18661],"class_list":{"0":"post-441253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-axar","9":"tag-axar-patel","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-hardik-pandya","12":"tag-india-cricket-team","13":"tag-ravichandran","14":"tag-ravichandran-ashwin","15":"tag-south-africa","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-t20-world-cup-2026","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom","21":"tag-washington-sundar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}