Not Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin picks 26-year-old as India’s premier bowler in T20Is amid Asia Cup 2025

Ravichandran Ashwin regarded Arshdeep Singh as India's premier bowler in T20Is after their Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 clash against Sri Lanka on Friday, September 26. Arshdeep played in place of Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for this game as the Men in Blue had already qualified for the final.

While the left-arm pacer was expensive initially, returning figures of 1/46 from four overs, he put up a stunning display in the Super Over. The game was tied as Sri Lanka finished on 202/5 chasing 203.

In the Super Over, Arshdeep Singh gave away just two runs and bagged two wickets from five balls. Ravichandran Ashwin lauded him for the brilliant Super Over and reckoned that he should be a mandatory pick in the T20I side. Moreover, he also added that Arshdeep is the country's premier bowler over anyone else in this format.

"From before the Asia Cup began, I was telling Arshdeep Singh is absolutely mandatory in this Indian team. He proved the point once again. What a terrific finish to the game. The way he bowled that Super Over, he reiterated why he is mandatory. Yes, in this game Jasprit Bumrah was not there. But Arshdeep has given great account of himself once again to show why he is one of India's premier bowlers. I would stick my neck out and say he is India's premier bowler in this format. He has taken a claim," he said on his YouTube channel 'Ash ki Baat.' (4:48)

While he praised Arshdeep, he criticised Harshit Rana's performance in the same game. Harshit was given an opportunity in place of Shivam Dube. Ashwin stated that it would not be easy for a bowler who was in and out of the team. However, he was not impressed with Harshit's tactics.

"Harshit Rana has played a few games, not played a few games. Absolutely difficult for a cricketer. It is not easy when you are in and out. It could be flattening on your confidence and also keep you rusty. But Harshit Rana's mistakes today were very amateurish. He was bowling a slow ball after every fast ball. That is a bit of an amateurish way of playing the game. He has done that mistake in the past and Sri Lanka read it well. He will have to learn a bit," he added. (5:49)

Harshit proved to be expensive and gave away 54 runs from his four overs despite picking up a wicket.

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Ravichandran Ashwin feels Indian spinners missed a trick

In the same video, Ashwin also praised the Sri Lankan batters for the way they tackled the Indian spinners and took them on. He reckoned that the spinners did not challenge the Sri Lankan batters enough and missed a trick.

"I want to highlight Kusal Perera's batting. All the shots he played, he moved away from the leg-stump, making our spinners to go short and create that width. He took them down in a very fine manner. Obviously, Varun Chakaravarthy made a brilliant comeback in the end. Kuldeep Yadav, I thought it was not one of his best days, but still he came back pretty well," he said. (3:06)

"India missed a trick. Compared to Sri Lanka's batting line-up compared against other teams, they impacted India's spinners' length. Indian spinners did not quite challenge their batters to hit them down the ground," he added.

Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy had identical figures of 1/31 from four overs and were slightly expensive. Meanwhile, Axar Patel, who returned figures of 0/32 from three overs, had a poor outing with the ball.