India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked MS Dhoni as the toughest batsman to bowl to in the shortest format of the game. Ashwin rated Dhoni’s ability to take the game away from the opposition in the death overs as staggering. The former Indian captain is well known to take the match deep and provide the finishing touches for the side.

Meanwhile, Ashwin has been fortunate to not bowl much against MS Dhoni. Ashwin was roped in by Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2009 and stayed with the franchise till 2015. Subsequently, he once again played with MS Dhoni for Rising Pune Supergiant for two more seasons.

However, Ashwin finally had to bowl against his former skipper when he was leading Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2018 and 2019.

Ashwin rated Dhoni as the best T20 batsman in the world for his ability to finish the tight matches.

“Toughest batsman to bowl to in T20, I always rate MS Dhoni to be one of the greatest T20 batsmen, especially towards the end. MSD one of the greatest captains India has ever seen, one of the greatest captains IPL has ever seen”, Ashwin said during an Instagram Live session.

MS Dhoni has played 190 IPL matches in which he has scored 4432 runs at an impressive average of 42.21 and a strike rate of 137.85. Dhoni has led Chennai Super Kings to some impossible wins and has pulled his team from the jaws of defeat with the help of pyrotechnics. The talisman’s mind works as a calculator and he knows which bowlers he should attack at what time of the match, to stay ahead of the opposition.

The right-hander has scored 1617 in 98 T20I matches at an impressive average of 37.6 and strike rate of 126.13. However, he could score only two fifties in T20I format.

On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin has scalped 125 wickets in 139 IPL matches at an average of 26.47 and he has conceded his runs at an impressive economy of 6.79. Ashwin snared 52 wickets in 46 T20I matches for the Indian team at 22.94.

Written by: Gautam Chauhan