5 decisions taken by MS Dhoni which defined the roadmap of Indian cricket

#4 Selecting Ravichandran Ashwin in the Test Side

Ravi Ashwin: A legend in the modern era

Ravi Ashwin came into the scene with the IPL and was always considered as an X-factor in the CSK team. Some consistent performances in the IPL, got him into the Indian side and he tasted success against New Zealand in 2010, which made captain Gautam Gambhir to say that he was one of the finds of the series.

Harbhajan was still the senior spinner in the team and he always had his injury problems. This prompted Dhoni to select Ashwin in the Test side and he had a dream debut picking 9 wickets against West Indies and capped off the series with a century in Wankhede. He even won the Man of the Series for his efforts. This convinced Dhoni about his abilities after which he started sidelining Harbhajan.

Ashwin faced flak for his over his performances against England in 2012 after which he roared back into form in 2013 picking 31 wickets against Australia. After this series he consolidated his position with top performances against South Africa in 2015.

We saw the best of Ashwin after the start of 2016 where he spun India to series wins against New Zealand, West Indies, England and Australia. He improved his overseas performances and has become one of the leading spinners in the world.

This was one of Dhoni's masterstrokes which has paid rich dividends for Indian Cricket.