Ravichandran Ashwin Plays With his Tricks Again

Ravichandran Ashwin, by his standards, has had a quiet series. Ideally, a series in India has Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as India’s most influential bowlers. This time around, the first three Tests had Jasprit Bumrah doing his magic along with Kuldeep Yadav and later Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin on the other hand remained quiet with England seemingly negating him nicely.

Day 3 at Ranchi though was a day visiting teams have often hated while facing India. With a slender lead, England had the advantage but India, knowing that the pitch was keeping low had their plans. They went with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja straight away and both managed to turn the clock back.

From one end, Ravindra Jadeja kept things as tight as possible on a surface suited to him. With the ball keeping low, Jadeja was seen as a major threat with his accuracy and ability to get the ball to skid along at a quick pace. Jadeja did exactly as expected, applying pressure while Ravichandran Ashwin finally got into his own with his variations. He was given the new ball and the master strategist in Ravichandran Ashwin came into play very soon.

He seemingly made a slight change to his action and with the new ball put up his first master class of the series. Starting with a simple drifter to get Duckett out in a traditional manner, Ashwin brought out his carrom ball to send Pope a ball later leaving England in tatters early on. He continued to use the carrom ball to his effect, dominating the early stages of the innings, taking out three of England’s top four.

While Ashwin took the top order out, Kuldeep turned out to be the perfect support with four wickets to his name. Maintaining a flatter trajectory, bowling slower, and using the pressure built by Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the leggie was quick to make a mark as well, missing out on a five-for of his own.

With all three spinners doing their job, England and Bazball was given its a strong taste of the subcontinent flavor. With Ashwin, he stuck to his strength and employed the carrom ball at the right times, with the target of not looking to overuse his trump card.

He got a chance with the new ball and made the ball talk really well. In a rare occasion, Ravichandran Ashwin went three Tests without a five-for at home, and in his 99th Test he proved that he still has it in him to ensure India’s target stays under 200.