Arshdeep Singh apologises to R Ashwin after placing India spin legend last in his bowler rankings originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.KEY TAKEAWAYS:Arshdeep Singh ranked Ravichandran Ashwin fifth in his list of India's best bowlers.The pacer placed Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami at the top of his rankings.Arshdeep promised to personally message his former Punjab Kings skipper Ashwin to apologise for the low placing.Why did Arshdeep Singh apologised to R Ashwin?Arshdeep Singh found himself in an awkward spot during a recent podcast appearance, having to soften the blow of placing one of India's greatest bowlers at the bottom of his personal rankings. The left-arm pacer ranked spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin fifth on his list, prompting a light-hearted promise to apologise.Speaking in a conversation with Krishnank Atrey on YouTube, Arshdeep was asked to name his most talented Indian bowlers. He readily admitted a natural bias towards seamers, a leaning that shaped the entire order and left little room at the top for the spinners who followed.The exercise was conducted in a jovial spirit throughout, with Arshdeep at pains to stress that the placings reflected personal preference rather than any objective judgement on the quality of the bowlers involved.MORE:Abhishek Sharma scores 233 in 91 balls in district matchArshdeep's rankings and his fast-bowler biasArshdeep left no doubt about who topped his list and why. He said, "The best skilled for me is at the top of my order; he is also my personal favourite: Bhuvi Bhai. I like him very much. I am a little biased."He then justified his second choice with a nod to conditions. Arshdeep said, "Shami Bhai is at second place because you know the ball gets seamed on any wicket, such a wonderfully correct seam; he can do it in test matches on the flat tracks of India."The spinners occupied the lower rungs, with Kuldeep Yadav third and Punjab teammate Yuzvendra Chahal fourth. Arshdeep said, "Third, Kuldeep Yadav, who has a very rare skill set, is a left-arm chinaman. And then there's Yuzi Bhai; we're teammates at Punjab. And his record is also impressive. He's taken so many wickets."MORE:GSL 2026: 47-year-old Tahir powers Guyana Amazon Warriors to title defenceAn apology for the India greatThat left only one place for Ashwin, a placing Arshdeep was visibly uneasy about. He said, "And then there's Ash Bhai. I wouldn't want to rate him last, but there's no position left. Ash Bhai was my first captain in the IPL with Punjab. Sorry, Ash Bhai. I will personally message you. Sorry."The moment carried a personal edge given their shared history at Punjab Kings, where Ashwin captained Arshdeep in his early IPL days. Atrey kept the mood playful, joking that if he were asked to rank the five bowlers, he would rank Ashwin first and send the off-spinner an apology of his own.The clip is clearly a bit of fun, and Arshdeep's repeated disclaimers about bias make plain he was not seriously downgrading a bowler with more than 750 international wickets. Ranking exercises of this kind are parlour games, and reading too much into a teammate's affectionate ordering would miss the tone entirely.Yet the list does quietly reveal how a modern pacer sees the craft. Arshdeep instinctively values seam and new-ball threat above the subtler arts of spin, a preference that mirrors the wider drift of white-ball cricket. That Ashwin, one of the game's great thinkers, lands last on a fellow professional's list is less a slight than a sign of how differently bowlers of different disciplines weigh greatness.For all the latest cricket news, opinion, and commentary and to share your voice, head to ourFacebook,Instagram,andX (Twitter)pages.