Irfan Pathan praised Ravichandran Ashwin for his intelligent bowling performance on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ashwin recorded 3/42 as India dismissed Australia for 177 on Thursday, February 9. India then finished the day at 77/1, only 100 runs behind the opposition, with nine wickets remaining.
During a Star Sports discussion, Pathan posed the question of what he thought of Ravichandran Ashwin’s performance. His reply was that Ravichandran Ashwin is an incredibly intelligent bowler, constantly formulating new plans to challenge the batsmen.
The ex-India all-rounder was delighted when the experienced off-spinner took the wicket of Alex Carey, saying: “That was a huge scalp. Alex Carey was doing really well, sweeping and reverse sweeping a lot. It was critical to break that partnership. What Ashwin did was, he didn’t care whether Alex Carey was sweeping or reverse sweeping; he bowled a full-length delivery every time.”
Pathan commended Ashwin for bamboozling Pat Cummins with his range of deliveries, explaining further that it is the usual tactic of a spinner. After that Cummins was completely stumped. Ashwin first made the ball spin a lot, and then he changed the angle of the delivery. You don’t bowl the shorter length since it gives the batsman too much room.
Carey attempted a reverse sweep against Ashwin and ended up striking the ball off the bottom edge onto his stumps. Cummins was snagged by Virat Kohli at first slip as the Australian captain made contact with a delivery that flew straight ahead.
Pathan asserted that Ashwin should be recognised as one of the greats of international cricket due to his impressive record of attaining 450 wickets faster than any bowler before him, including Muralitharan and Anil Kumble.
Ashwin is the second quickest to 450 Test wickets in terms of the number of matches he has played (89) – only Muttiah Muralitharan has achieved the feat faster in 80 Tests. Nevertheless, Anil Kumble is the fastest to the milestone in terms of the number of innings, having done it in 165, two fewer innings than Ashwin’s 167.
