India vs England 2021: He Knows What Line And Length To Bowl On Such Pitches, Sunil Gavaskar Lauds Ravichandran Ashwin

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has lauded India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as an extremely clever bowler, who knows how to alter his bowling as per conditions. This came after his 29^th five-wicket haul in the ongoing second Test match between India and England in Chennai.

India lost the first Test match by 227 runs at the same venue after the pitch started spinning viciously on days 4 and 5. This led to them preparing a rank turner for the second Test match in Chennai, despite the dangers of it coming to bite them back. However, Virat Kohli won the all-important toss, giving India the edge and they batted wonderfully.

India made 329 runs in the first innings with Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 161 and Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane making half-centuries. However, England couldn’t repeat their first Test performance again and was skittled out for 134 with Ravichandran Ashwin taking 5/43 and debutant Axar Patel and Ishant Sharma taking two wickets each.

‘Clever’ Ravichandran Ashwin Is Impossible To Face On Such Pitches, Says Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar lauded the Tamil Nadu tweaker and called him a clever bowler and said that Ravi Ashwin is practically unplayable in such spin-friendly conditions. He also called the spinner extremely clever to alter his bowling as per situations and conditions.

“He is pretty much unplayable in these conditions because he knows exactly the line to bowl, the length to bowl. He’s been mixing his pace. He’s been superb. We saw that in the previous game as well when he got six and three – nine wickets in the match, and here again he is one course to get into the 390s. By the time the series is over, he will definitely have more than 400 wickets,” Gavaskar said on the Star Sports Network.

Ravichandran Ashwin Knows How To Setup A Batsman, Works On Their Weakness And Strengths: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar further said that Ashwin did his homework pretty well, citing him telling Virat Kohli to ask for a DRS review against Ben Stokes, citing that during the 2016 Mohali Test match, the England batsman was dismissed in a similar fashion.

“Like a batsman does when he’s facing up to different bowlers, what he needs to do, what he needs to avoid. Similarly, Ashwin does that. He knows which ball to bowl to which batsmen, where not to bowl to a particular batsman, and what the strengths and weaknesses are of a batsman. Ashwin certainly puts a lot of thought into his bowling. He’s a very clever bowler. You can’t get to 400 wickets unless you’re thinking dismissals,” Gavaskar added.

Also Read: Ravichandran Ashwin Becomes First Bowler To Dismiss Left-Handed Batsmen 200 Times In Test Cricket