Just yesterday, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin did the double at the ICC Cricket Awards by bagging the Test Cricketer of the Year and the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the Cricketer of the Year. He became only the third Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to win the prestigious award. He was also included in the ICC Test Team of the Year which was picked by Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakarra, and Gary Kirsten.
Ashwin had a fantastic year and apart from being the world’s best bowler, he was also arguably one of the best all-rounders as well. In the previous match against England, he became the first ever Indian and the 5th cricketer overall to achieve the rare feat of picking up 25+ wickets with the ball and scoring over 300 runs in an entire series. Throughout the year, he has been India’s go-to bowler. In 12 Tests, he picked up 72 wickets at an average of 23.90 with 8 five-wicket hauls to his name
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After winning the award, the Indian cricket team posted a video of him where he thanked his family and teammates for his success. Surprisingly, he did not mention former captain MS Dhoni in his thank you speech, and due to this, Ashwin has received a lot of ‘hate’ over social media over the past 24 hours. He also made a statement about how the team changed after Dhoni’s retirement in Tests, and that garnered a lot more “hate tweets” from Dhoni fans all across the country.
"There are a lot of people to thank for this wonderful achievement I have made. It has been a great couple of years but this year has been even more special. What is very noticeable is the way I have bowled and batted and the way I have gone about doing my business. What is more important, as far as I am concerned, is the number of people who have gone behind my success,” said Ashwin in the video which was posted on Facebook.
"I'd like to dedicate this award to my family. I'd like to thank ICC and most importantly my teammates. I'd also like to thank the support staff for our success. We've had a great transition ever since Mahendra Singh Dhoni hung up his boots. A young captain has taken over, we fell on the right track, and we now have a new bunch of boys," he added.
Here are a few of the tweets which Ashwin received over the alleged “controversy”
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