Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his support for young pacer Harshit Rana, who has faced heavy criticism following his inclusion in India’s white-ball squads for the upcoming series against Australia. Ashwin addressed the issue on his YouTube channel, urging critics to focus on performance-based feedback rather than personal attacks.
Ashwin Explains Harshit Rana’s Selection
Ashwin analyzed the selectors’ reasoning behind Harshit’s inclusion, suggesting that the youngster’s all-round potential might have played a key role in the decision.
“𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒔 — 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂, 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒕. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑵𝒐. 8, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎.”
Ashwin also highlighted the importance of understanding selection choices in context, especially when teams prepare for tours with challenging conditions like Australia’s fast and bouncy pitches.
“Criticism Should Never Be Personal” – Ashwin
Reflecting on his own experiences, Ashwin recalled how he often faced sharp criticism from Sanjay Manjrekar during his playing career but chose not to take it personally. He advised that constructive feedback should always be professional.
“𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒕. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏. “𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒂𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒓𝒆𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝑰’𝒎 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕.”
India Ready for Australia Tour
Meanwhile, Harshit Rana’s selection marks a major milestone for the young pacer as India prepares to face Australia in three ODIs and five T20Is. The tour begins on Sunday, October 19, with the first ODI scheduled at Perth Stadium.
With Ashwin’s strong defense of Harshit and emphasis on fair criticism, the veteran once again demonstrated his balanced perspective on how young players should be treated in the evolving landscape of Indian cricket.
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