"That is so cruel" - R Ashwin defends Team India spinner amid criticism from Dinesh Karthik in Champions Trophy 2025

Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin felt that the criticism towards Kuldeep Yadav during the 2025 Champions Trophy was completely unjustified. The left-arm wrist spinner had gone wicket-less in the semifinal clash against Australia, but came through in the final by claiming the key wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, March 9.

Kuldeep was targeted by fans and pundits ever since his return from the injury layoff. The spinner was far from his best in the ODI series against England as he looked to build rhythm out in the middle. Even in the Champions Trophy group stage against Pakistan he looked off-color, but returned strongly to pick up wickets in his final spell.

Ashwin replied strongly to his former teammate Dinesh Karthik, who was critical of Kuldeep Yadav's campaign while speaking on-air during the final.

"My dear friend Dinesh Karthik, said during commentary that 'Kuldeep Yadav has not had one of his best tournaments', and I was like that is so cruel. Someone bowling like Varun Chakaravarthy is taking wickets and is being used well by Rohit Sharma, and he is bowling well no doubt, but that does not take away from the fact that Kuldeep Yadav is not bowling really well," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

Ravichandran Ashwin blamed the stat-obsessed mentality that cricket has embraced, right from fans' expectations and obsession with pure numbers instead of visual evidence. He added:

"Sometimes what happens is that, after the match, we celebrate by giving awards like RO Water Purifier match winner or other stuff like that. With this what happens is that other performances go under the radar. Like Kuldeep Yadav did not pick any wickets in the semis, and he many people went after him saying that he does not lift his game up in big games and all that. Please watch his bowling before saying all of that. Can you say that KL Rahul or Hardik Pandya did not have a good tournament because they did not score a heap load of runs?"

Ashwin added that if people continue to rely on numbers as their sole parameter for judgement, then they will even start to question the contribution of certified players to the team. As a result, he urged fans to change the yardstick.

"Can you say that Ravindra Jadeja has not had a good tournament? If he had not picked up wickets, people would have said that he did not have such a good tournament. Actually, he has bowled fantastically well. The one thing I notice about Kuldeep Yadav is that he should return to the stumps after delivering the ball. In the last match, he copped abuse from Virat and Rohit, and even today he did not come close to the stumps during a run-out chance. Please come to the stumps from now on Kuldeep, that is my only complaint," Ashwin elaborated.

Kuldeep Yadav picked up seven wickets in five matches with an economy rate of 4.79. He was Team India's second-leading wicket-taker in the 2025 Champions Trophy campaign behind the joint-top wicket-takers Varun Chakaravarthy and Mohammed Shami.

---

"I miss his guidance a lot" - Kuldeep Yadav on Ravichandran Ashwin

Cricket journalist Vimal Kumar, who was on the other side of the interaction with Ashwin on his channel, relayed a message from Kuldeep Yadav. The wrist spinner, on the sidelines of the Champions Trophy final, mentioned how he misses Ashwin's guidance on the field.

"Ash bhai should not have gone from Test matches, I miss his guidance a lot," Kuldeep Yadav said.

In reply, Ashwin remarked that his retirement paves the way for Kuldeep to feature in more Test matches.

"My guidance will always be there for Kuldeep. He actually messaged me after I retired, actually a voice note. I responded to it like a week or ten days later where I said that until now I was holding your place in the Test team, from now on you can play bindaas (carefree)," Ashwin said.

Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket after the third Test against Australia in Brisbane during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series.