It Wasn't About Sasikala: R Ashwin's Clarification After Bowling a Carrom Ball on Twitter
Ravichandran Ashwin, who was rested for the T20I series against England, finished 2016 as the world's top Test bowler. The Tamil Nadu spinner enjoyed a dream run and capped off the year with ICC's Cricketer and Test Cricketer of the Year awards.
Highlights
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Ashwin's tweet created a controversy on Monday
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Ashwin is known to make witty and incisive remarks on Twitter
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Ashwin was rested for the T20I series against England
As social media hotly debates AIADMK chief VK Sasikala's credentials to be Tamil Nadu's next chief minister, star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin this morning seemed to bowl his famous carrom ball, a lethal delivery, at the ruling party for its decision. "To all the youngsters in TN, 234 job opportunities to open up shortly," tweeted the Tamil Nadu cricketer, in what was hailed by Ms Sasikala's detractors as a clever comment against the AIADMK electing her to be chief minister in place of the party's O Pannerselvam, who resigned yesterday. The Tamil Nadu assembly has 235 seats, of which one will have to be contested by Ms Sasikala within six months of being sworn in chief minister. There are 234 elected members and one nominated in the assembly.
The 61-year-old has never contested an election before and was till two months ago known only as a close confidante of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who died in December. Rival parties like the DMK have objected to a person "not elected by the people" being anointed chief minister.
But Ravichandran Ashwin, known to make witty and incisive remarks on social media, soon tweeted again to clarify that he was not weighing in on the day's hottest political debate. He was, he said, actually talking jobs as part of an employment generation campaign. He did not however specify the where or what.
To all the youngsters in TN, 234 job opportunities to open up shortly.
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) February 6, 2017
Guys please cool it down, it is a job creation drive.Nothing to do with Politics.#howmuchtwisting
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) February 6, 2017
Ashwin, who was rested for the T20I series against England, finished 2016 as the world's top Test bowler. The Tamil Nadu spinner enjoyed a dream run and capped off the year with ICC's Cricketer and Test Cricketer of the Year awards.
Indian captain Virat Kohli, who has termed Ashwin as India's biggest match-winner, will once again look to him to deliver the goods in the upcoming four-Test match series against Steve Smith's Australia.