Virat Kohli's 'Prickly Relationship' With R Ashwin Keeping The Spinner Out Of Team India, Says Nick Compton

Ex-England cricketer Nick Crompton criticized Virat Kohli, saying that his 'prickly relationship' with R Ashwin is the reason why the veteran spinner was kept out of Indian team.

New Delhi: The Indian cricket team were considered to favorites to win ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021. Every player who is currently part of team India's World Cup team participated in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in United Arab Emirates (UAE) which helped them adapt to the pitch and weather conditions.

Team India registered resounding wins in their both warmup games against England and Australia after which boosted their morale ahead of the start of Group stage matches. However, Virat Kohli & Co. are yet to win their first World Cup game in the tournament as they were first defeated by arch-rivals Pakistan by 10 wickets and then by New Zealand on Sunday by 8 wickets.

Several critics raised questions over the surprising change made by team India against New Zealand, like promoting Ishan Kishan up the order to number one and asking Rohit to bat at number three. Ex-England cricketer too has criticized Virat Kohli, saying that his 'prickly relationship' with R Ashwin is the reason why the veteran spinner was kept out of Indian team.

"I just don’t understand how Kohli’s prickly relationship with Ashwin is allowed to keep him out of Indian teams?" Compton wrote in a tweet.

"Do you think Captains should be allowed such autonomy?" he further added.

I just don’t understand how Kohli’s prickly relationship with Ashwin is allowed to keep him out of Indian teams? Do you think Captains should be allowed such autonomy?

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) October 31, 2021

After this tweet, a fan replied to Compton and said “Indian cricket is going through a tough time now”.

“They shouldn’t be??? You have 2 billion people to chose from? How on earth does Thakur play test cricket and this? There is no chance in the world he is a better cricketer than Ashwin," Compton replied.

Indian cricket is going through a tough time now. But it is cheap of you to take some brownie points during this challenging phase.

— Rajesh Gopal (@argee20) October 31, 2021

Virat Kohli-led India had a poor outing against New Zealand in the ongoing World Cup. The Kane Williamson-led side on Sunday attained an emphatic 8-wicket win over India in the Group 2 match of the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021. This was India's second successive defeat in the tournament.