Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund has hailed R Ashwin as a legend while reacting to Sanjay Manjrekar’s recent comments on the senior off-spinner. Manjrekar recently said he has ‘problems’ with Ashwin being called one of the greatest of all time. Manjrekar questioned Ashwin’s credentials in SENA countries and cited his lack of five-wicket hauls outside India to argue the spinner can’t be labeled as one of the greats yet.

During a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo, Manjrekar had also pointed out how all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has matched Ashwin in terms of wicket-taking ability in Tests in the last few years. Nonetheless, Manjrekar’s opinion didn’t go down well with many on social media. India and Tamil Nadu batsman Mukund has also disagreed with his remarks on Ashwin and lavished praise on the off-spinner, who is India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time in Tests.

“He just loves the game. Ashwin is actually a guy who will research everything there is to cricket. He just needs to be one of those very well prepared individuals who go on to a cricket field and that kind of shows in the way he has performed, especially in Test match cricket. He’s been fantastic,” Mukund told stand-up comedian Sorabh Pant on his YouTube channel ‘Wake Up With Sorabh’.

“I read an article today where Sanjay Manjrekar said that ‘I disagree that he is a legend of the game’. I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Manjrekar and say he is a legend of the game because he holds several world records,” he added.

Ashwin is India’s highest wicket-taker in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) with 67 wickets in 13 matches and is expected to feature in the final against New Zealand in Southampton. The summit clash will get underway from June 18. Ashwin is currently India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in Tests.

He is just nine wickets away from going past Harbhajan Singh to become India’s third-highest wicket-taker of all time in Tests. Ashwin has 409 wickets to his name in 78 Test matches with 30 fifers and seven 10-wicket hauls.