Ace England batter Joe Root has shared some key differences between the bowling styles of two of the best off-spinners in the world today- India’s R Ashwin and Australia’s Nathan Lyon.
Both the finger-spinners completed 500 wickets in Tests recently and are the trump cards for their respective teams. Ashwin returned to form in the Ranchi Test with a five-wicket haul, while Lyon was at his best with 10 wickets in the first Test against New Zealand.
The England batter said that Ashwin is good at dragging you across the crease and beating the edges while Lyon tries to get on top of the ball in the early stages of the match.
"I'd say, Ashwin is making sure that you don't play the previous ball. He is very good at trying to drag you across the crease and get your head to one side of it and beat both edges quite frequently.
With Lyon, it is all about, I think, especially in the first half of the Test match to get really over the top of the ball, get bounce bowl in between you like the knee roll and hit, and try to bring short leg and leg slip into the game as much as he can and then just slowly, get slower with his pace and drift wider into that. There's that footmarks, um, Mitchell Starc has so kindly done for him for such a long period of time." said Root on Sky Sports podcast.
Root further added that Ashwin is always on the lookout for ways of getting the batter out instead of waiting for something to happen.
"Whereas Ashwin is probably slightly trying to find ways of getting you out rather than trying to wear you down, over long periods of time. That's how I've always tried to approach them. Be trying, trying to be clear, right, because that's how they're generally gonna operate," said Root.
R Ashwin, if picked, will play his 100th Test for India in Dharamshala in the upcoming fifth and final match of the series against England.
