Amid the veteran’s dismal start to the season, former England captain Michael Vaughan said that Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling technique is inappropriate for contemporary T20 cricket. So far, the off-spinner’s second spell with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been difficult. In three games, he has taken three wickets at an economy rate of 9.90.
Ashwin’s 2025 season got off to an exciting start as he defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) with final statistics of 1-31. But ever since, the opposing hitters have attacked him, especially during the powerplay.
In the early going of CSK’s defeat to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Chepauk, Phil Salt had blasted Ashwin, and in the most recent match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati, Nitish Rana had taken him out with a barrage of boundaries.
According to Vaughan, Ashwin is not as respected by opposition hitters as he was in the past.
“I just think he’s probably in a new era. I guess a few years ago, they would have probably shown him a lot of respect. In team meetings, they would say, ‘We can hit Ashwin for 24 to 28 runs, and give him too many wickets’. These guys do not think like that. It is like ‘How can we damage him?’ or ‘How can we whack him?’.”
Michael Vaughan
“He is not ragging it square, they have probably seen all of his deliveries many times over, so maybe they are picking it out of the hand a little bit better, I just think it is a different approach in terms of mentality. It’s like, ‘Right, okay, we don’t care who it is’. The names are irrelevant, it’s just the ball that is coming down.”
Michael Vaughan
In order to lure R Ashwin back to their establishment after a ten-year absence, CSK blew the bank at the 2025 mega-auction. After being signed for INR 9.75 crore, the seasoned spinner promptly declared his retirement from international cricket.
R Ashwin finished with dismal figures of 1-46 in CSK’s loss to RR in IPL 2025
When CSK recently lost to RR at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, the off-spinner was far from at his best. Ashwin gave up 19 runs off his opening over as a result of Nitish Rana’s series of sweep strokes. In the middle overs, the left-handed batsman took him on once again, but the veteran was able to outsmart him to end the magnificent knock.
With just seven wickets in 15 games at the end of 2024, Ashwin also had a forgettable campaign. Since making his IPL debut in 2009, his strike rate of 51.89 was the lowest he had ever posted for a season.
