Ashwin hits back at Amir over ‘slogger’ remark, compares Abhishek’s bat swing to Yuvraj Singh

The debate around Abhishek Sharma is getting louder with every passing game in this T20 World Cup. After former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir labelled him a “slogger” on a TV show, social media picked up the word and ran with it. But now, one of India’s most respected voices in cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin, has stepped in to set the record straight.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin strongly defended the young opener, making it clear that while criticism is part of the game, branding Abhishek as a slogger is simply wrong. He broke down the technical side of Abhishek’s batting and compared his bat swing to that of Yuvraj Singh.

"I have seen Mohammad Amir’s video where he calls Abhishek a slogger. There are also many tweets going around calling him a slogger. I want to make one thing very clear. You can say anything about Abhishek Sharma, but you cannot call him a slogger because he is not a slogger.

He has one of the most enviable bat swings in world cricket. As we all know, Yuvraj Singh is his mentor. Abhishek has a very similar swing to Yuvraj. In fact, I would say his bat swing is might be even better. The toe of the bat faces the sky. You really cannot get a better bat swing than that. That is why whenever he hits the ball cleanly, it travels a long distance.

People might get confused and think he is a big slogger because the ball goes far. But that is not slogging. One thing he may have been guilty of is trying to show intent on every ball. There are many different ways to show intent in T20 cricket."

Abhishek Sharma scored a crucial 55 off 30 balls against Zimbabwe on Thursday, helping India seal a 72 run win in their must win T20 World Cup Super 8 clash. The return to form knock came after a tough start to the tournament, where he registered three consecutive ducks in the group stage and managed just 15 against South Africa.

He brought up his maiden T20 World Cup half century in just 26 balls at the Chidambaram Stadium, smashing 4 fours and 4 sixes. His aggressive innings laid the foundation for India to post a record breaking 256 for 4. India will need him to do it again against West Indies in the do or die match as well.