L Sivaramakrishnan reveals call from Ashwin after scathing online attack on World Cup-bound off-spinner

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Former leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has revealed that he received a call from Ravichandran Ashwin after he openly criticised the World Cup-bound cricketer for picking wickets only on doctored Indian pitches.

The 57-year-old launched a scathing attack on the star off-spinner on Saturday and claimed that Ashwin directs the ground staff to 'tamper' specific areas on the pitch to take wickets in India. He called the veteran cricketer, who is on the cusp of taking 500 Test wickets, a fool before highlighting his poor bowling stats in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.

The entire episode started after L Sivaramakrishnan raised questions on Ashwin's bowling action on Friday. Fans were quick to come to the rescue of Ashwin and started trolling the cricketer for not reaching out to Ashwin personally and making the post to gain attention.

The former cricketer, who played 9 Tests and 16 ODIs for India, later took shots at the World Cup 2023 commentary panel for not having a single genuine spinner in it. The same gave fans the chance to get at him further.

Sivaramakrishnan dismissed the fans by calling them 'paid chamchas' of Ashwin. He soon called Ashwin the most unfit player, a fool and a liability as a fielder.

L Sivaramakrishnan reveals call from Ashwin after blasting him on social media

Later on Saturday, he revealed that he got a call from Ashwin who discussed his bowling action. He added that Ashwin clarified that people who mocked and criticised him were not connected to him.

"Ravi Ashwin was nice enough to call me just a while ago to discuss his bowling action, he was as shocked with the venom of the trolls as I was . Also clarified that the people involved are in NO WAY connected to him. GOOD LUCK @ashwinravi99. Do us proud," Sivaramakrishanan wrote on X.

Sivaramakrishanan had earlier congratulated Ashwin for replacing injured Axar Patel in India's World Cup 2023 squad.

"Congratulations to R.Ashwin for making himself a place in the World Cup squad with sheer impressive qualities that he possesses and has displayed in the recent past. His job is to take wickets and not look to contain, if he can average a couple of wickets each game he would have done a great job. Good luck."

Ashwin has hinted that he is mulling ODI retirement after the World Cup 2023 which starts from October 5.