Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the most legendary spinners Indian cricket has ever produced. Ashwin, who has currently taken 499 Test wickets, is just one wicket away from joining the elite list of bowlers to take 500 Test wickets in Tests. He will only become the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to enter the 500-wicket mark. Ashwin could have completed the record in the second IND vs ENG test match, however, he couldn’t do it.
Ravichandran Ashwin went wicketless in the first innings of the match. This was the first time after 2019 that Ashwin did not get a wicket in a Test match in India in a single Test innings. However, Ashwin showed a brilliant comeback in the second innings and got 3 fer.
The field didn’t have much to Ravichandran Ashwin in itself, so the England batsman found it easier to score runs against him. Ashwin is expected to be more dominant in India than in other countries; However, he has so far failed to bowl to his potential in the first two Tests.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes Ravichandran Ashwin should be proud of the way he has bowled so far. Manjrekar feels that he has taken on England’s approach of sweeping him very well and has also varied the pace from him whenever necessary. Manjrekar also claimed that Ashwin is back to the 70s and is throwing the ball more in the air to get results.
Sanjay Manjrekar on Ravichandran Ashwin’s performance in the IND vs ENG second Test
He told ESPNcricinfo: “He should be really proud of the way he bowled, especially before the 50 overs, where he reacted magnificently to England’s approach of the reverse sweep and the normal sweep and the change of stroke and all that. So Ashwin is starting to find the answer to the problem and what he has done is really very interesting. “If you look at it, it goes back to the old classic days of the 70s where players used to throw the ball up and we called it cunning and trickery in the air.”
Sanjay Manjrekar added that whenever the bowler bowls on a flatter trajectory, it becomes easier for the batsman to hit the sweep shot. Manjrekar said this was Ravichandran Ashwin’s intelligence that he used to get wickets in the second innings on a pitch that had nothing for him.
He said, “And that’s what I was working on. When you gain rhythm off the field and the trajectory is a little flatter, those sweep shots we are talking about become easier. So brilliant on a pitch that had nothing going for him, we saw Ashwin’s guile that we don’t normally associate with him getting wickets on home pitches.”
The third Test of the five-match series will be played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot from February 15. The series is currently tied 1-1, with three games left.
