R. Ashwin DESTROYS Aussies on Day 3 in BGT series as India win first Test by an innings and 132 runs
He can bowl six different balls in an over, each one different from the other. He can turn, he can let it rip, he can do so much with red cherry, batters are bamboozled.
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R. Ashwin
If January 19, 2021, was a famous day for Indian Test cricket when they knocked the stuffing out of the Aussies at Gabbatoir to win the series 2-1, the start to a fresh season in 2023 has been sensational. On Saturday, magician R. Ashwin showed that he is a terror for the Aussies. Each time he rolled his arms over, he was hissing like a viper to strike the visitors. A win by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy Series in Nagpur set the tone for India’s domination in a hyped-up series.
Even before the first ball was bowled in the series, the Aussies, under Pat Cummins, were crying. They found fault with everything from the pitch to later what Ravindra Jadeja was rubbing on his fingers. In the end, it was in the heart and the mind the Aussies were psyched out as wily Ashwin bowled with guile and gumption to trigger a slide. There was not a semblance of a fight-back from the visitors, where skipper Cummins came across as a leader bereft of ideas.
To be sure, this is one hell of a start for Team India, where skipper Rohit Sharma can take credit for leading the fight with his crafty ton in the first innings. The more you talk of performers who turned match winners, the names of Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar Patel will pop up. The sheer variety, the sheer audacity, and the will to bat and bowl, this troika of spinners showed they are a class apart.
On Saturday, after India were finally dismissed for 400, they had built a lead which was massive. For the Aussies to fight required a large heart, temperament, and willingness to stay at the crease. To say that the Aussie batters have credentials would not be wrong, but the way someone like David Warner fell, again to Ashwin, showed how much India’s off-spinner is a force to reckon with.
Traditionally, India have produced some of the most classical off-spinners. In Erapalli Prasanna, India had an off-spinner who would flight, create a loop, and get rid of batsmen. Then came former India captain S.Venkataraghavan, whose nagging accuracy and ability to probe were mesmerizing. More recently, India had Harbhajan Singh an off-spinner who had the ability to psyche out batters with his sublime skills and spin.
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Off-spinner Ashwin shows his class as hosts India take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series
Cut to the present, Ashwin is an off-spinner with great variety. He can bowl six different balls in an over, each one different from the other. He can turn, he can let it rip, he can do so much with red cherry, batters are bamboozled. Despite all that, Ashwin has never got his due. For his contribution to Indian cricket, he deserved to be a captain of the Indian team. Ashwin has never cribbed about what he did not get. A team man to the core, when he bowls it’s terror. He can go on for long spells, be creative and at the same time keep batters guessing what he will bowl next.
It is that suspense, that prying nature, and the accuracy which makes him so hard to play. Batters with technique, temperament, and tenacity can still negotiate with him. The Aussies hired an Ashwin look-alike to prepare, before the first Test on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Only a fool could have thought of it as a ploy as imitating Ashwin is impossible. Then again, in the first innings, it was Jadeja with ball and bat who won hearts and the match for India.
From Gabbatoir to Nagpur, nothing has changed for the Aussies. They have been losers, weeping for nothing. When such a mindset prevails, there is no way they can fight in a Test series of this nature. Pat Cummins came short with his own bowling, captaincy which was club class, and no imagination.
The cry-baby Aussies will find faults with the pitch, with all things possible under the sun. Nagpur’s sunshine was beautiful as India won in less than three days. This was like the tremor in Turkey, India destroying the Aussies. Rebuilding in Turkey may be possible as the world is pooling resources, and manpower and showing emotions. This Aussie team cannot expect any such help. They were buried amidst debris in Nagpur, totally zero character.
Mind you, the Indian top batters in the first innings, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Surya Kumar Yadav had flopped. Should they get going, it will be even more fun. Team India are on a high, showing that they have the ability to perform well within limitations. After all, there was no Rishabh Pant, there was Jasprit Bumrah. But then, with Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar on this side, the Aussies will be dreading each day of this tour in the BGT series. Ashwin’s Test tally is now 457 wickets. It can only grow further!
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)