Australia vs India 2018: Ravichandran Ashwin's Injury Could Unsettle India - Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey, the former Australia batsman, believes the injury of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin could unsettle Indian National Cricket team in the upcoming Tests against Australia.

Meanwhile, Ashwin, who was one of India’s chief architect in the 31-run win at Adelaide in the first Test. And now, he missed the second fixture due to a left abdominal strain as India didn’t field a spinner at Perth.

Michael Hussey feels that his injury of Ravichandran Ashwin will shift the balance of Virat Kohli & Co. He also added that it would put more pressure on the fast bowlers.

“It’ll definitely throw the team balance out quite a lot I would have thought,” Hussey said to cricket.com.au. “You could tell quite clearly in Adelaide they liked to use the spinner – much like Australia really – to bowl a lot of overs from one end and then rotate the faster men from the other end,” he added.

Australia, however, struck twice after posting 326 runs in the first innings at Perth. Tim Paine and Pat Cummins shared a 69-run partnership to guide the hosts over 300-run mark. Ishant Sharma starred with the ball as he returned with four wickets cleaning the tail to restrict the Aussies for 326.

In reply, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood produced two brilliant deliveries to remove the Indian openers. Murali Vijay and KL Rahul departed on either side of lunch to send India on the backfoot. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara staged a comeback, but they will have a monumental task ahead to take a significant first innings lead.