Dale Steyn Picks Ravichandran Ashwin As India's Trump Card For England Tests
Published - 30 Jul 2021, 03:23 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:50 AM
Legendary South African pacer Dale Steyn has picked off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as someone who can turn out to be the biggest trump card for Team India in the upcoming five-match Test series against England.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been at the peak of his powers in the past 8-10 months. Ashwin played a crucial role in India winning the Test series in Australia as well as their triumph against England on home soil that paved way for Team India’s qualification for the ICC World Test Championship final.
He was brilliant in what were unfavorable conditions for a spinner in the WTC final and ended the cycle as the leading wicket-taker.
According to Dale Steyn, Ashwin’s ability to bowl long spells and England’s batters’ weakness against spin could make the champion off-spinner one of India’s biggest keys in the Pataudi Trophy.
‘’Maybe it’s out-of-the-box thinking here from me, but I think we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the seamers when someone like R Ashwin might be the biggest key for India. As these five Test matches go on, I think spin will be the difference.” said Dale Steyn on ESPNCricinfo.
”Ashwin is the kind of bowler that bowls tons and tons of overs. Teams like England and Australia, who are so good at playing seamers and seamer-friendly conditions, don’t tend to play spin particularly well. So Ashwin might be the biggest trump card that India has going forward,” Dale Steyn added.
As far as seamers are concerned, while India have skillful pacers like Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Umesh Yadav, Dale Steyn believes that Shardul Thakur could prove to be handy in English conditions.
Shardul Thakur is a genuine swing bowler but Steyn believes that the Palghar cricketer can become even more lethal if he learns the art of getting the ball to straighten.
”I like Shardul Thakur. He does swing the ball beautifully, and when he learns how to get the ball that stays straight on batters, that’s when he might find a lot more edges. He’s another guy like Tim Southee that can swing it beautifully, but he needs to learn how to bowl that kind of scrambled ball that just holds the line and he can find the edges.” Dale Steyn said.
The five-match Test series between England and India will kickstart in Nottingham from August 04.
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