Despite playing at home, where conditions are usually suited for spinners, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin has not been a big threat against England for the first two Tests. Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra gave his two cents on why that may be the case.
The 37-year-old has been India’s go-to man for wickets for quite some time now. He has delivered on many occasions both home and away. The spinner has not lived up to his reputation in the first two Tests. He started off the first match at Hyderabad well picking up the wickets of both the English opening batters, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. However, in the second innings, he was unable to make much of an impact despite picking up the wickets of Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes.
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Chopra who spoke on his YouTube channel highlighted his persistence in sticking to hitting the same line. The commentator/pundit said,” I was taken by surprise when Ollie Pope was playing his sweeps, Ashwin was just targeting just one area. He was getting hit for runs and that is not the Ashwin that we know.”
The former Indian international player added,” Even in the Vizag Test, he did not get too many wickets and I feel his performances have dipped slightly. Even in the second innings, he was coming back to his usual self.”
Chopra however believes that what might have gone wrong is the unexpected nature of the track and the aggressive intent shown by the English batters. He added,” But this is also true that if you play in extremely spin-friendly pitches, the batters will be looking to play at you aggressively which is to be expected and the bowlers have to be creative in finding the dismissals. It could be a combination of him being used to playing in turning tracks and the threat of Bazball.”
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However, he backs Ashwin to get back to his best. Ashwin is currently one wicket away from reaching the 500 Test wickets milestone and will be expected to deliver as India will take on England for the third Test at Rajkot. With key players like Virat Kohli, and Mohammed Shami and fitness concerns for KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, the veteran will be expected to do the heavy lifting with the ball and deliver wickets.
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