Watch- Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozles Ben Stokes with an absolute peach on Day 3 of 5th Test

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled England skipper Ben Stokes with a beauty on the third day of the ongoing fifth Test match. Ravichandran Ashwin shattered Ben Stokes’ stumps just before the lunch break during the third day’s play in the match.

Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his 100th match, impressed with his bowling at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. Ashwin claimed four out of the five wickets that fell in England’s second innings in the first session on Saturday, March 9.

England opener Duckett fell early to Ashwin’s crafty bowling in the second innings. Zak Crawley departed for the dressing room after scoring just one run. Ashwin secured his third wicket of the day when England vice captain Ollie Pope was caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Middle-order batter Jonny Bairstow then came in aggressively, hitting a series of powerful sixes against Ashwin. England lost Bairstow to Kuldeep Yadav’s fourth delivery of the day. Bairstow scored a quickfire 39 runs off 31 balls, including three boundaries and three sixes.

Watch- Ravichandran Ashwin Bamboozles Ben Stokes

In a pivotal moment, Ravichandran Ashwin ended Ben Stokes’s disappointing series with a masterful delivery. Ashwin claimed Stokes’s wicket with just two balls before lunch. Ashwin’s delivery deceived the England Test skipper, resulting in a clean-bowled dismissal.

The England all-rounder departed after scoring just 2 runs off 10 balls. The visiting team lost half of their side for 103 runs in the opening session on the fourth day. The Three Lions still trail the Rohit Sharma-led side by 156 runs before the break in the ongoing match.

First ball magic knocks Stokes over AGAIN! 🤯 13th time lucky for Ashwin 😎#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/CIqMXIbI7h

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 9, 2024

Ravichandran Ashwin’s Skills A Lot Like Christopher Nolan’s movies – Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik compared Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling style to Christopher Nolan’s movies, noting their complexity. He highlighted Ashwin’s use of physics to enhance his techniques, including adjustments to his delivery stride and hip movement.

“Ashwin’s bowling and his mastery over his skill is a lot like Christopher Nolan’s movies. Sometimes you’ve to watch it again, maybe twice or thrice to understand what the movie is all about. What he’s trying to achieve, I’ve seen an article where he speaks about parabola, where he speaks about the different angles he uses, not just the usual angles, but we’re talking about delivery stride, arm power loading, how the hip can move faster, and various things like these,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Ashwin became the 14th Indian cricketer to play 100 matches in Tests. He picked up four wickets in the first innings. He has the chance to become the fourth bowler, after Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Anil Kumble, to take a five-wicket haul in the 100th Test.

The Rohit Sharma-led team has already secured victory in the ongoing five-match series. The victory in the final match will help the team boost their chances of being at the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 table.

Also read: Watch: Beautiful moment! Ravichandran Ashwin asks Kuldeep Yadav to lead teammates off the field amid his 100th Test