R Ashwin, who was named the ICC Cricketer of the Year and bagged the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy in the ICC Awards, did not please a certain group of MS Dhoni fans as the off-spinner missed out on acknowledging the limited overs captain in his speech as well as in his tweet.
To make things worse, while acknowledging everyone who helped him become the Player of the year, Ashwin went on to add how the Indian team has undergone a great transition ever since Virat Kohli took over the mantle of the longest format from Dhoni.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to be awarded this great honor. There are a lot of people to thank for this wonderful achievement I have made. It has been a great couple of years but this year has been even more special. What is very noticeable is the way I have bowled and batted and the way I have gone about doing my business. What is more important, as far as I am concerned, is the number of people who have gone behind my success.” said Ashwin in the video uploaded by ICC.
“I would like to thank my family and dedicate the award to them. I’d like to thank ICC and most importantly my teammates. I’d also like to thank the support staff for our success. We’ve had a great transition ever since MS Dhoni hung up his boots year in Australia. A young captain has taken over, we fell on the right track, and we now have a new bunch of boys.”
Later, Ashwin took to Twitter to thank all those who contributed to his success.
In the series of tweets, the offie thanked Prithi Narayanan (his wife), Shankar Basu (fitness trainer), Anil Kumble, Virat Kohli and his family. The 30-year old cricketer also thanked fielding coach R Sridhar and Bharath Arun.
However, Ashwin missed out on acknowledging the limited-overs captain, who is credited by many for grooming him into the bowler that he is today. This drew criticism from many on social media.
Ashwin was in great form in Test cricket with both the ball and bat, picking up 72 wickets in 12 Tests, at an average of 23.90 that also includes 8 five-wicket hauls and scoring over 500 runs, which includes two centuries.