Former Indian legemdary spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently constructed a comprehensive all time tournament bracket via ESPNcricinfo, ultimately crowning batting icon Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest Indian cricketer in history. The selection process required the veteran bowler to navigate several challenging match ups across generations. During the early rounds, Ashwin favored Sachin Tendulkar over Vijay Hazare, selected Virat Kohli ahead of Rohit Sharma, pushed Rahul Dravid past Vinoo Mankad, and picked Jasprit Bumrah over Anil Kumble. When paired against Sourav Ganguly, Ashwin humorously noted, ‘Oh, my God. I’ll pick Sourav Ganguly. Let me be absolutely safe.’
As the tournament advanced into the deeper stages, the bracket produced several unexpected outcomes. In a major quarterfinal showdown, Ashwin chose fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah over Virat Kohli, explaining his reasoning with the remark, ‘Goodness gracious me. Test cricket. Virat is an absolute legend. He’s done so well. It’s one tournament. I’ll go with Jasprit Bumrah, man. He also admitted that ‘Maybe there’s a bit of a partiality. Elsewhere, Ashwin debated between MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja before backing Dhoni based on his leadership and multi format credentials, though Dhoni was later eliminated by Virender Sehwag. Virender Sehwag. That’s unfair. That’s unfair to Sunil Gavaskar.’
I’ll pick Jasprit Bumrah’ due to his own background as a bowler.
Sehwag had previously advanced after a tough first round win over Sunil Gavaskar, prompting Ashwin to remark, ‘Oh gosh, across formats.
The semifinal matchups paired Tendulkar against Sehwag, with Tendulkar emerging victorious, while Kapil Dev squared off against Bumrah. Kapil Dev. This set up a grand final between two era defining legends in Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev. Concluding his selection process, Ashwin admitted that personal preference ultimately tipped the scales, stating, ‘Personal bias should count at some stage. I’ll go with Sachin Tendulkar.’
Ashwin ultimately picked the 1983 World Cup winning captain over the modern fast bowler, stating, ‘The all-round ability is so tempting, right? The 1983 World Cup win.
