Dhoni has high praise for Ashwin

2015 World Cup

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has praised off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after his side completed a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Ireland in a World Cup Pool B match on Tuesday.

Ashwin only took two wickets in the match, but it was his intervention that firstly broke the opening Irish partnership of 89, then put a halt on the scoring rate in the middle overs, that India got on top.

The right-arm off-break bowler finished with figures of two for 38 in 10 overs, including one maiden as Ireland were bowled out for 259. India chased down the total with only two wickets down for a comfortable win.

After the match, Dhoni said: "The spinners have really bowled well. As far as Ashwin is concerned, obviously he’s someone that I always love to have, the reason being I always pushed him to bowl in the powerplays and even have used him whenever I'm in difficult situations.

"So he is really confident about his bowling. He understands his bowling well. I believe he [Ashwin] has learnt a lot in the last few foreign tours.

"The good thing with him is that he keeps improving himself. Every time he’s part of the series, he sees the challenges and accordingly he improves. So it’s obviously good to have him, and it’s good to see him bowl really well."

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