India's leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin can use the Indian Premier League as a platform to revive his career in limited overs cricket, feels veteran batsman Subramaniam Badrinath. Having bought Ashwin for Rs 7.60 crores by the Kings XI Punjab, who have been under-achievers of IPL, handed the Indian limited overs 'discard' a big responsibility to lead the side. Ashwin, who has 100 wickets in 111 IPL games at an economy of 6.55, will lead a side boasting some of the biggest hitters in Aaron Finch, David Miller, Chris Gayle, KL Rahul and Yuvraj Singh.
"I've played a lot of cricket with him. I know him as a person, as a friend. He'll be looking to do something, he will be looking at this as a challenge," the former Tamil Nadu skipper said of Ashwin who made his Ranji debut under his captaincy.
Ashwin had finished with one wicket from three matches with an average of 167.00 in last year's Champions Trophy and played his last ODI during the West Indies tour in same month of June. Kings XI Punjab have managed to reach the playoffs only twice. In the first season, they reached the semi-finals and secured the third spot while their best show was a runners-up finish in 2014. A commentator in the upcoming IPL, Badrinath picked Chennai Super Kings and KKR as the two best franchises.