“If Ashwin was English right now, then they would have told him to retire” – Monty Panesar

Former England spinner Monty Panesar reckons England’s think tank would have asked Ravichandran Ashwin to retire if he was English, given his current age. Ashwin, who recently turned 38, bagged the Player of the Match for his all-round performance against Bangladesh.

The right-hander joined forces with Ravindra Jadeja when India was reeling at 144-6 in the first innings. However, he was able to hit the ground running and scored a majestic knock of 113 runs to 199 runs with Jadeja. Ashwin also delivered with the ball after going wicketless in the first innings as he returned with impressive figures of 6-88 in the second essay, which was his 37th five-wicket haul in the red-ball format.

Ashwin has bagged 522 wickets in 101 Test matches at an impressive average of 23.7. Panesar said the England team likes to experiment more than other teams.

Speaking to ANI, Monty Panesar said, “They experiment more. If Ashwin was English right now, then they would have told him to retire because they want to bring youngsters who have the potential to play. But I think England experiments more, and they like to experiment.”

On the other hand, Panesar reckons Australia’s off-spinner Nathan Lyon is a better bowler but feels Ashwin is a great thinker of the game.

“I think I see Nathan Lyon in my opinion. Yes, he is a better bowler. But I think Ashwin is a better bowler in India. I think he thinks like a batter when he bowls. He is able to pick out the weakness and he can exploit it, and that is his biggest advantage. He bats really well when he bowls; he knows what the batters are thinking,” Panesar told ANI.

Ashwin and Lyon will be up against one another in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar trophy. The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.