The former Indian opening batsman Aakash Chopra, who is a well known cricket expert now, reckons that the Indian off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has got such incredible skills against the left-handed batsmen that when the left handed batsmen come across him in any format of the game, they almost “kneel before him”.
Ravichandran Ashwin played T20 international cricket for India after a long time yesterday and he had a fabulous game on a surface which was assisting the spinners. There was a bit of turn for the spinners with a little bit of bounce as well and Ashwin made use of that to full effect.
The veteran went at a rate of less than a run a ball and he removed two star West Indies batsmen, Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer, both of whom could have hit the ball long and hard.
According to Aakash Chopra, who was speaking about Ashwin on his YouTube channel, the wicket of Nicholas Pooran was vital in the context of the game, not only because of the kind of ability Pooran possesses against the spinners, but also because he seemed to have got his eye in and Ashwin dismissed him at a stage where he could have taken the game away from India.
Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t take long to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer after Nicholas Pooran’s wicket
After the wicket of Pooran, Ashwin sent Hetmyer back to the pavilion pretty soon as well, before Hetmyer could got himself through the gears. The Guyanese left hander was holed out at wide long off while trying to play a lofted shot against Ashwin straight down the ground.
Ravichandran Ashwin turned the ball in yesterday’s game, but one of the major factors in the dismissals of both Pooran and Hetmyer was the bounce that he got. Pooran was beaten a bit with the length as well, but it was eventually the bounce which induced an edge while he tried to play the cut shot.
