R Ashwin is one of the legends of the game but the veteran off-spinner failed to make an impact as Rajasthan Royals faltered against Gujarat Lions in the final of IPL 2022.
Ashwin is known to experiment a lot with his bowling but Royals Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara feels that the Indian spinner should focus more on bowling conventional off-spin.
"Ash (Ashwin) has done a great job for us. Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of improvements and thinking to do, especially with his off-spinners and bowl more of it," Sangakkara said.
Ashwin could manage to pick just 12 wickets in 17 games he played this season. In the final, Ashwin failed to pick a wicket and gave 32 runs in three overs he bowled.
"It was a tough one. 130 was never enough. We were debating whether to put them in (to bat) first as well. By the time we arrived at the ground, we looked at the pitch, it was pretty dry and we thought it will get slower and maybe offer a little bit of turn for our spinners. So, we were expecting to get about 160-165," Sangakkara reasoned.
Rajasthan lacked the firepower with the bat and squandered a good start to hand Gujarat an early advantage.
"We were really well-set in our batting innings at 70/1 at the halfway mark until Sanju (Samson) got out. And then they came and bowled some beautiful overs and we let Gujarat back into the game," Sangakkara said.
"(With) 130, we need a bit of luck and some quick wickets in the powerplay. We did get two but unfortunately, we didn't get (Shubman) Gill in that first over and the run-rate never went above seven. It was always going to be tough.
"It was hardly about calculations and maths and just about trying and getting a couple of wickets and breakthrough that (David) Miller and Hardik (Pandya) and Gill partnerships, but we were unable to do it," he added.
'Lot of improvements needed '
Rajasthan made it to their second final since 2008 and despite ending as runners-up, the former Sri Lanka skipper feels that the team needs to improve a lot.
"Well we have got a lot of improving to do in all areas. If you take our batting, we had huge contributions from Jos (Buttler), Sanju, and Shimron Hetymer at the early stages.
"Riyan (Parag) and Devdutt (Padikkal) really played well in patches, but I think in terms of overall performance, we need a little bit more from the support role players as well," he said.
Talking about Riyan Parag, the veteran keeper-batter backed the youngster to strengthen the Rajasthan middle-order.
"I think Riyan Parag, he has got huge amount of potential, and we got to work him into higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to kind of grooming him to become a more of a kind of an early middle-order player rather than just a death-hitter.
"Because, I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace,” the legendary batsman said.
