Ajit Karn
Ravichandran Ashwin is a real asset to the Indian cricket team. On Day 2 of the 4th Test in Ahmedabad, he spun a web around the Australian batters and took 6 wickets, which led to the tourists being bowled out for 480 runs. Ashwin broke two of Anil Kumble’s records on the way to his 6-for. As the rest of the cricket world bowed down to Ashwin’s magic, Kumble posted a ‘class’ tweet praising the off-spinner from Tamil Nadu.
With his 6 wickets against Australia, Ashwin passed Kumble’s 111 scalps to become India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy wicket-taker with 113. Ashwin also broke another record that Kumble had held: he became the bowler in India with the most five-wicket hauls.
Not only that, but Ashwin’s performance put him on the same number of wickets as Nathan Lyon for the whole series.
Kumble praised the veteran spinner by tweeting, “Well Bowled Ashwin, Class.”
Well Bowled @ashwinravi99 Class ! 👏👍🏽
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) March 10, 2023
Ashwin said this about his play at the end of the second day: “No one spell is better than the other. And at different points in this series, like when we were in Delhi, I thought, “The numbers don’t give you a 5 or 6, but the ball is coming out beautifully.”
“…and the changes I’ve made, like loading and cocking my wrists, have shown that my spells are much more powerful,” he said.
Ashwin hasn’t found it easy to bowl on the Ahmedabad pitch, as spinners haven’t been able to get much traction on the first two days. Ashwin said that he beat the batters by using the “scrambled seam.”
“It wasn’t a good pitch, so I had to use the scrambled seam, the drift, and whatever else was there.”
