Nottinghamshire Sign Ashwin as a Replacement for James Pattinson in the County Cricket

Nottinghamshire Sign Ashwin as a Replacement for James Pattinson

Ashwin Replaces James PattinsonIndian spinner Ravi Ashwin has been picked by Nottinghamshire for the second half of the country cricket. He is selected as a replacement for Australia’s fast bowler James Pattinson. The Indian all-rounder will be available for the six out of last seven matches for the club.

Since the coming of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashwin has been overlooked in the limited overs cricket, though, the 32-year old spinner is an integral part of the Indian Test team. Injuries have been a constant worry for him in the last two years, given he got injured in so many times in big tours like Australia, England and South Africa.

And now in a bid to stay fit and keep him on top of his game, Ashwin has decided to venture out once again into Country cricket as he would like to be amongst the wickets before Team India start focusing on Test Cricket.

Ashwin who earlier played for Worcestershire has said, “Ashwin, who has also represented Worcestershire, stressed he’s eager to get started. “I’m really looking forward to joining up with Nottinghamshire, to playing cricket at an iconic venue like Trent Bridge and hopefully contributing to some County Championship victories. I enjoyed my previous stint in England with Worcestershire. It’s a good, competitive standard of cricket over there and I can’t wait to get started,” the off-spinner said.

In his debut county season for Worcestershire, Ashwin picked up 20 wickets at an average of 29.15 and he made decent contributions with the bat too, scoring 214 runs at an average of 42.80.

Ashwin Replaces James Pattinson

We knew what we wanted to sign and that was a world-class bowler. Whether that was a fast or a slow bowler, we were prepared to look at all options,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell said. “As it happens, we’ve signed a very good spinner, a very experienced spinner and one we hope can contribute with the bat as well. We’ve seen world-class slow bowlers have a huge match-winning effect in county cricket over many years. Ravi certainly has that potential – and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming him to the squad and letting him loose on our opposition.”

Ashwin Replaces James Pattinson

Ashwin will play his first match for Nottinghamshire against Essex, followed by Somerset and Surry.

Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane also signed his contract this season Hampshire and will play eight County Championship games for the team in May, June, and July. He has replaced South African batsman Aiden Markram who has been picked for the South Africa World Cup squad.

I am excited to be the first Indian to play for Hampshire, a county which has a glowing reputation. I hope to score runs and win as a team and would like to thank BCCI for allowing me to play,” Ajinkya Rahane said according to the Hampshire’s official website.

Indian Test Team Vice-captain has, in fact, became the third Indian batsman to hit a century on his debut match between Hampshire and Nottinghamshire on Wednesday. Rahane smashed 197- ball 119, including 14 boundaries while helping his side gain a lead of 337 against Nottinghamshire in the second innings.

The other two players who have struck centuries on debut in country cricket are Piyush Chawla and Murli Vijay. Piyush Chawla was the first Indian who hit a century in country cricket in 2013, scoring 112 for Somerset against Middlesex, while Murli Vijay took 181 balls to hit a century on debut for Essex against Nottinghamshire.

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