Ashwin draws criticism for comparing CSK's return with Manchester United 1958 air crash

Chennai Super Kings bowler Ravichandran Ashwin (L) celebrates the dismissal of Warriors captain Davey Jacobs during the final Twenty20 cricket match in Johannesburg September 26, 2010. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) - RTXSOTE

Cricketer Ravi Ashwin has got himself into a controversy as he compared Chennai Super Kings' return to IPL after a two-year ban to the re-emergence of Manchester United after the Munich air disaster that led to deaths of several players from the football team.

In an interview that was published in the Times of India, Ashwin who played for the Chennai-based franchise stated, "I think the two-year hiatus for CSK probably increases its value much like what it did for Manchester United when the air crash happened."

Manchester United team had suffered the tragedy in 1958 when eight of its players died in a plane crash that happened at the Munich airport.

After Ashwin's statement, criticism started to emerge from all corners. Many felt that comparing the ban on CSK due to allegations of match fixing to that of the Manchester team's tragedy was an insult to the latter. "How did you seriously manage to compare the death of a world class team to a team kicked out for betting scandals and match fixing?" said a person replying to Ashwin’s tweet.

Guys please take the reporting with a pinch of salt with respect to the Munich tragedy and CSK. All I said was the break will make the ..

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) July 19, 2017

The spinner  later clarified saying that he had been misquoted by the paper. On his twitter timeline, he posted that people should take the reports by the media with a pinch of salt.