“It’s Shocking”: Rohit Sharma’s Strange Tactic For Ravichandran Ashwin Leaves Former Cricketers Angry

Ravichandran Ashwin has been one of the consistent performers for India in home conditions in recent times and his impact on the team is further evident from the fact that he replaced James Anderson as the world’s top-ranked Test bowler. . As a result, it came as a big surprise to all that skipper Rohit Sharma waited almost 15 overs to hand over the ball to his top spinner on the second day of the third Test against Australia in Indore. While spin was being threatened by Ravindra Jadeja, it was Ashwin who eventually provided the first breakthrough of the day as he dismissed Peter Handscomb. Ravi Shastri, Mitchell Johnson and Ajit Agarkar were all taken aback by the choice made by Rohit and during his commentary, all the former players discussed his decision.

“Don’t think India are spot on with their strategy. No Ashwin in the first hour? He is your premier bowler and has bowled only 16 overs so far. I know Axar Patel is playing as a specialist spinner. Yes, but have to go.” for Ashwin. It is shocking,” commented Agarkar while commenting.

Johnson agreed with the assessment and expressed surprise at the decision.

“He does it with right-handed batsmen from all around the wicket which can really create confusion. Someone can spin, and someone can’t. We’ve already seen Smith in this series, who can swing his bat overtook.”

Agarkar further added, “At the moment, it looks like the pitch has done a bit of damage, but definitely a lot of it.” Shastri replied to the remark, “He has been heating up since morning.”

India suffered a rare defeat on home soil despite a brilliant half-century from Cheteshwar Pujara as veteran Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon thrashed the hosts with eight wickets on the second day of the third Test here on Thursday.

India did well to finish Australia’s first innings on 197, taking an 88-run first innings lead after Steve Smith made 156 for 4, but negotiating quality spin in favorable conditions was their main challenge. remained a challenge.

The hosts were bowled out for 163 in their second innings, meaning Australia needed just 76 runs to secure a rare Test win in India as India have lost only two Tests at home in the last 10 years.

Australia got the best of Pujara (59 off 142 balls) and he was on full display at the Holkar Stadium, but he didn’t get the support he needed from the rest of the batsmen as India put in a brilliant batting display on another turner.

India were in the game as long as Pujara was there but a sensational catch by Steve Smith at leg slip towards the close of play put the visitors on the brink of a memorable victory.

Lyon finished with remarkable figures of eight for 64 in 23.3 overs. With India’s innings lasting 60.3 overs, Siraj was bowled attempting a wild slog on day four.

Apart from being impressive with the ball, the Australians were brilliant in the field, especially with pace-changing catches by Pujara and Shreyas Iyer (26 off 27).

Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli’s shot selection left a lot to be desired as Lyon dominated the home side.

After being reduced to 79 for four at tea, Pujara and Iyer’s 35-run partnership in the counter-attack raised hopes of a second innings lead, but the soaring Usman Khawaja took a brilliant catch at mid-wicket and later returned it. sent.

Iyer went for the horizontal shots against the spinners, especially Kuhnmann, and executed them well until Khawaja’s moment of brilliance got the better of him.

Gill (5), who came in for KL Rahul, suffered his second failure of the game after being beaten in flight by Lyon. He went in for a clumsy flick, but was cast in the end.

Lyon also dismissed India skipper Rohit (12), who was caught in front after misjudging the length of the ball.

Kohli (13) was adjudged LBW after attempting to pull left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnmann on a track that offered spin and uneven bounce.

Pujara looked the strongest of the Indian batsmen. He used his feet brilliantly. Pujara steps up to Lyon and hits a cover drive, the first boundary of the innings.

He played mostly on the front foot but stayed between mid-on and the mid-wicket fielder to bowl a short ball to Kuhnmann. Four balls later, he came down the track for a confident straight drive.

He was dropped on 50 with a difficult chance at cover, before coming up with the shot of the innings. Ishan Kishan came up with a message towards the close of the game. The contents of that message could not be confirmed, but it was followed by a huge six over mid-wicket as Pujara took off towards an aggressive Lyon.

In the morning session, the pace-spin combination of Umesh Yadav and R Ashwin took a toll on the Australian batting line-up.

After a fairly quiet first hour, when only 30 runs were scored without a wicket in 16 overs, India lost their last six wickets for just 11 runs after starting the day at 156 for four.

Ashwin and Yadav took three wickets each to script India’s comeback after a poor opening day. Although India did not take any wickets in the first hour, they did not allow Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja along with Peter Handscomb (19 off 98) and Cameron Green (21 off 57) to score easily.

As has been the case throughout the series, the wickets piled on after India broke Handscomb’s resistance, whose over-defensive innings ended with an inside edge to Iyer at short-leg off Ashwin.

Ashwin surprisingly had to wait for almost an hour to bowl his first over of the day and when he did, the wily operator made the ball talk.

He took three wickets for 44 runs in 20.3 overs, dismissing Alex Carey (3) and Lyon (5).

Umesh, who successfully targeted the stumps, trapped Green in front in his very first over to curl a little straight from middle-stump.

He cleaned up the tail by bowling fast and straight round the wicket, dismissing Mitchell Starc (1) and Toddy Murphy (0).

(With PTI inputs)

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