Ravi Ashwin, to start with, would be relieved that he recovered from his shoulder injury that he suffered during the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) opening match against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). Though he got a couple of wickets in that game, he had to walk off the park. The veteran didn’t play the next two games against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

He returned with the game against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and has had a reasonable time with the ball in hand. Though he picked up only one wicket in his last two matches, he has, more or less, been on his mark. In the meantime, on Monday, October 5 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Tamil Nadu’s Ashwin made a change to his jersey.

Ravi Ashwin makes a subtle change

Prior to the match in Dubai, Amit Mishra, DC’s leg-spinner, was ruled out of the IPL. He sustained a finger injury in the game against the Knights and he couldn’t recover. Mishra was wearing jersey no.99 while Ashwin’s was 999. However, after Mishra was ruled out, Ashwin covered one ‘9’ on his jersey. It’s pertinent to note that Ashwin wears jersey no.99 for the Indian team.

Former Indian women’s cricketer Snehal Pradhan also asked about why Ashwin covered one ‘9’ on his jersey. She took to Twitter and wrote, “@ashwinravi99 Can you tell us why you’ve covered up one 9 on your shirt? And perhaps why you wear 999 to begin with?”

Here’s the tweet: –

@ashwinravi99 Can you tell us why you've covered up one 9 on your shirt? And perhaps why you wear 999 to begin with?

— Snehal Pradhan (@SnehalPradhan) October 6, 2020

In the match against RCB, Ashwin conceded 26 runs in the four overs he bowled. In fact, it was he, who struck first blood for the Capitals, dismissing Devdutt Padikkal, who came into the game on the back of three sparkling half-centuries, the last of which came against Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi.

The Capitals won the game by 59 runs and went to the top of the points table with four wins from five matches. Kagiso Rabada got the Purple Cap after he picked up four wickets, breaking the backbone of RCB’s batting unit. DC’s next game is against the Royals on Friday in Sharjah.