Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir lauded veteran Indian off-spinner R Ashwin and said that if England wants to compete in the series they need to find a way to deal with the threat of R Ashwin.
Veteran Indian off-spinner R Ashwin was the star performer with the ball for Team India on day two of the second Test match between India and England in Chennai as the off-spinner scalped his 29th five-wicket haul.
R Ashwin's five-wicket haul helped Virat Kohli led Team India to wrap up visitors for 134 runs in response to India’s first innings score of 329 runs as he outstandingly tinkered his pace and lengths to return with the figures of 43/5.
Insinuated with R Ashwin’s performance former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir lauded the veteran off-spinner and said that R Ashwin is expected to pick a five-for almost every time he gets on the field.
“Ashwin again, world-class and very accurate, didn't give anything away. It is expected of him because now people expect him to take fifers on a very regular basis,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.
Gambhir further praised Ashwin’s ability to bowl with the new ball and said that the latter is brilliant against both left and right handed batsman.
“A lot of finger spinners don’t bowl well with the new ball. They want a little bit old ball which can actually grip and stuff, but Ravichandran Ashwin; the kind of variation he has got, he undercuts the ball, he can take the ball away from you and he’s brilliant against the left-handers as well as the right-handers, he said.
Addressing R Ashwin’s spell against Steve Smith in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Gambhir said that that was one of the best spells bowled by any spinners in any formats across any team.
“Look at what he did against Steve Smith (in the Australia tour). We can talk about what he has done in Indian conditions or the wickets like what we are watching right now.
"But his spell against Smith against Melbourne was probably the best spell any off-spinner has ever bowled in Australia. That was one of the best spells bowled by any spinner in any formats across any team,” Gambhir said.
Gambhir further said that if the visitors wanted to stay competitive in this Test series, they needed to find out a way to neutralize the threat of R Ashwin.
“We’ve always expected that once he comes back from Australia in his own conditions, he’s gonna even more dangerous. He’s got two fifers in the first two matches and with five innings to go, it will be difficult for England now.
“It depends how they are going to survive against Ashwin because if they have to compete in this series going forward, it has to be how they deal with Ashwin,” he concluded.
With his 29th five-wicket haul R Ashwin leveled with Australian bowling legend Glenn McGrath’s record of 29 fifers.
(Star sports inputs)
