Retired Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has pointed out how even the IPL presentation ceremonies are heavily skewed towards batters. With IPL 2025 already producing a handful of high scores, Ashwin hilariously predicted that bowlers might someday run away with the ball.
According to a data by ESPN Cricinfo, the aggressive intent by batters has surged from 32.6% in IPL 2024 to 54.3 in the 2025 edition. Additionally, the balls per boundary is 3.9% in 2025 and was 5.3 last year. Moreover, balls per six have reduced to 9.9% in 2025 and was 13.7 in 2024. The SunRisers Hyderabad had almost broken their own record for the highest score in IPL history when they scored 286 against the Rajasthan Royals.
Speaking to former cricketer Vivek Razdan and journalist Vimal Kumar, Ashwin noted:
"IPL ke match presentation mein na kam se kam 10 award. 50% of donon taraf ka team ko award mil jaati hai. But aisa kisi ne accha bowling kiya ya accha over daala usko ek award bhi nahin milta hai. Super striker, super four, super sixer sab milta hai. Super Ball ke liye nahin diya hai. Ek baar ek branding ka award diya hai, fastest ball of the day. Woh fastest ball of the day mein woh chakka gaya hoga, usko award milega. Kamaal ki cheez hai."
(There are at least 10 awards during the presentation ceremonies of IPL and most players at least earn one. However, if a bowler bowls a good ball or an over, he doesn't get it. There is Super striker, super four, super sixer but not for super ball. There was one branding award once, fastest ball of the day. But if that ball goes for a six, it gets the award.)
"Woh din itna door nahin hai jab bowler ball leke bhaag jaayega ground se. Agar main ball nahin daalunga toh aap maaroge kaise."
(That day is not far when the bowler runs out of the ground with the ball. If I don't hit the ball, how will you hit it?)
Ravichandran Ashwin picked one wicket on his return to Chennai Super Kings
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer marked his return to the Super Kings with a tidy spell of 4-0-31-1 as he dismissed Will Jacks to restrict the Mumbai Indians to 155/9. Later, Rachin Ravindra's measured 65* enabled the Super Kings to chase down the target.
The Yellow Army will next face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28, Friday in another home game.
