Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin lavished praise on Naman Dhir after the opening T20I against the West Indies. Ashwin also hailed the selectors for picking Dhir in the white-ball teams and said his selection has done on potential rather than numbers.
Dhir returned with impressive bowling figures of 3-31 in his quota of four overs while making his T20I debut. The all-rounder from Punjab accounted for in-form West Indies captain Shai Hope, Romario Shepherd, and Shamar Springer.
Thus, Dhir played a key role in skittling out the visitors at 171 in the series opener.
Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “I feel that there is something special about this guy. His attitude is remarkable. He has performed well at the Under-23 level, and he has also shown his potential for MI. Even today, he made the ball turn more than Roston Chase. He worked on revolutions and rotations. He finished with figures of 3/31. It’s not just about the wickets. You won’t get wickets every single day. It is about the courage and the quality with which he fought his way into the game. Whoever was involved in his selection deserves praise.
“I think his selection was not just based on performance and numbers. This was based on having an eye for potential. They picked him because they saw the potential in him. Many times, if we are just selecting players based on numbers, anyone can do that,” he added.
Ashwin said the team management and selectors are primarily looking for a batter, who can bowl a few overs and Dhir can perform the same role in the limited overs format whereas Washington Sundar can be used in the red-ball version.
“His bowling has been used. Keeping all of this in mind, I feel that they are probably looking for a batter who can bowl a few overs rather than a bowler who can bat. Very often, captains have been reluctant to use Washington. Shreyas Iyer used him in Japan because the conditions there offered a lot of turn. So now India have another option.
“They have another finger-spin, off-spin option. I think they were stuck with just one option. They know that Washington has been a marquee Test batter, so they have been preparing him for that format, and they have also created the option of Naman Dhir,” he added.
India will next take on the West Indies in the second T20I on Friday.
