Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin lavished praise on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for his heroics on Day 2 of the 4th Test in the ongoing Border Gavaskar series in Ahmedabad. Green scored 114 runs and put on a 208 partnership with Usman Khawaja as Australia put on a massive first innings total of 480.
Ashwin pointed out, India had already demonstrated that it was aware of how good Cameron Green was and could become.
"I hope you tuned into the IPL auction, it just tells you how the Indian cricketing fraternity rates Cameron Green," said Ashwin, after Green was purchased by Mumbai Indians, the Indian Premier League's most successful franchise for 17.5 crore in December.
Despite the rise in Green's stock as modern day limited overs player, his maiden Test century has given him confidence that he truly belongs in the format. The young prodigy became the youngest Australian to score a Test ton in India since Michael Clarke's 151 on debut in 2004.
"I think he's a fantastic player. Just the raw materials for a person as tall as him, lovely levers, good batting sense, can bowl and really hit the deck well, moves pretty well in the field", Ashwin said of the 23 year old Western Australia player.
"These are once-in-a-generation cricketers you are talking about. We come from different countries – India is very different. We can't protect such players for a long period of time. It's perform or perish. But in countries like Australia and England, they're doing pretty well at (protecting players) and I expect Cameron Green to be a wonderful cricketer down the line." Ashwin concluded
