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Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin criticized England’s strategy after their early exit from the 2025 Champions Trophy. Notably, Ashwin has been slamming the side for his lack of strategy in the white-ball formats for the last few months, which eventually continued in the showpiece event as well.
England started the Champions Trophy campaign against their arch-rivals Australia. The powerful knock from Ben Duckett (165) helped the side to post a strong total of 351 on the board. However, the bowling couldn’t be potent enough as Josh Inglish (120*) was sensational to seal the chase for Australia in the 48th over.
Thereafter, they were pitted against Afghanistan in their second group stage clash. Although they secured three breakthroughs inside the 10 overs, the Afghan outfit managed to post a 325-run total, with Ibrahim Zadran (177) as the top-scorer. In response, England tried well with Joe Root’s (120) knock, they crumbled under pressure to lose by eight runs. As a result, they were eliminated from the race to the semifinals.
Appearing on the Ash ki Baat show on his YouTube channel, the 38-year-old questioned England batters’ performance, which resulted in their loss against Afghanistan. Further, Ashwin also feels the side doesn’t possess a strong technique to succeed in Test cricket, which is evident in them failing to reach WTC finals in the last three editions.
“As a cricket fan, I’d love for England to play a better brand of cricket. If not for Joe Root’s brilliance, they would have lost by a distance.”
“You don’t have the technique to compete in Test cricket. What you are doing in Test cricket is hard to understand. You are not qualifying for the WTC finals either. You need to respect all the formats and make a game plan accordingly,” he added.
Notably, captain Jos Buttler resigned from the captaincy after England failed to reach the semifinals of the Champions Trophy.
Ravichandran Ashwin thinks England should take subcontinent tours seriously
On his Tamil YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin seconded Ravi Shastri’s views on England not taking subcontinent tours seriously. As per Shastri, they can be called successful if they do well in the subcontinent conditions.
It is worth noting that the Jos Buttler-led side lost the T20I series 4-1 followed by a 3-0 ODI series loss against India ahead of the Champions Trophy. The showpiece event was also the third successive ICC event where England failed to reach the final.
“It’s time England cricket takes subcontinent tours very seriously. Ravi Shastri made a pertinent point when he said there is no lack of skill with England, they should take subcontinental tours seriously, and not look at them just as ‘complaint tours,'” Ashwin said on his Tamil YouTube channel.
