New Delhi, India
India's 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup got announced on Wednesday evening (September 8). BCCI Secretary Jay Shah made the announcement of the squad, which comprises several big names, some notable omissions and few surprise entries.
Among the surprise entries, R Ashwin's name tops the list. For the unversed, Ashwin hasn't played a limited-overs game for Team India since 2017 and, thus, his addition left many pleasantly surprised. His numbers in the T20 World Cup, coupled with his recent IPL success, tilted the equation in his favour especially after Washington Sundar's injury.
Ashwin has a total of 20 wickets in 15 innings in T20 WCs, at a strike-rate of 16.2. The 34-year-old, who is currently part of the Test squad that is playing against England in ongoing five Tests, shared a motivational quote which keeps him going amid tough times and revealed how grateful he is for the opportunity presented. He wrote, âI wrote this quote down a million times in my diary before putting this up on the wall! Quotes that we read and admire have more power when we internalise them and apply in life. Happiness and gratitude are the only 2 words that define me now. "Every tunnel has light at the end of it but only those in the tunnel who believe in the light will live to see it,â read the quote in a picture shared by the experienced spinner.
2017: I wrote this quote down a million times in my diary before putting this up on the wall! Quotes that we read and admire have more power when we internalise them and apply in life.
Happiness and gratitude are the only 2 words that define me now. #t20worldcup2021 pic.twitter.com/O0L3y6OBLl
â Mask up and take your vaccine (@ashwinravi99) September 8, 2021
Ashwin has been warming the bench in the India-England Tests so far. Encouraged with his T20 WC inclusion, he will be desperate to play in the fifth and final Test, from September 10 (Friday) at Old Trafford, Manchester.
INDIA's SQUAD: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy
RESERVES: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur