cricket

Updated: Dec 08, 2018 04:16 IST

India find themselves in a favourable position in the First test at Adelaide, leading Australia by 59 runs with hosts having three wickets in hand.

One of the reason why India have their noses in front is Ravichandran Ashwin, the off-spinner was the pick of the Indian bowlers picking up three wickets on day 2 of the Adelaide Test. Ashwin picked up the wickets of Shaun Marsh, Marcus Harris and Usman Khawaja to leave hosts playing catch up.

Ashwin had a lot to prove going into the series as he had failed to deliver on his two previous tours in 2011 and 2014.

However, he did deliver on Day 2 and former India captain and legend Sunil Gavaskar was left impressed by what Ashwin had managed to achieve. Gavaskar also went on to say the India spinner had learnt from Aussie counterpart Nathan Lyon.

“He certainly has picked up a thing or two from Nathan Lyon, there is nothing wrong from learning from the opposition if it’s going to help your own game. You don’t want to copy but you can take things and bring it to your own game when it certainly helps. This is wonderful bowling,” Gavaskar told Sony Six on Friday.

“He did more than that [what Kohli could have asked from him] because he bowled really well. He concentrated on bowling the off-spinners more than the other variety he has. We saw a little bit of variety when Pat Cummins came into bat otherwise, he was bowling the stock ball all the time. He was varying his speeds, flight but basically, he kept the pressure on the batsmen, didn’t give them anything.

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“3 for 50 of the number of overs he bowled just tells you how well he bowled. Nobody tried to attack him or nobody was trying to attack him when he tossed the ball up.

“Those two deliveries that he bowled - the one that got Marcus Harris when he was well set - and the one that got Usman Khawaja were top stuff.”

Gavaskar also reckons that Ashwin has managed to correct the mistake of bowling a middle-leg line to right-handed batters that made him ineffective on overseas soil. He remembered Ashwin’s poor spell in Southampton against England that fetched him no wicket as against Moeen Ali’s nine.

“He [Ashwin] did [fixed the problem of bowling too straight to the right handers]. That’s exactly what he needs to do. When you’re bowling, even in the subcontinent where it turns and grips, if you’re bowling a middle and leg line, a lot of time, the ball is going to turn so much that you’re not going to get an LBW. But if you bowl just outside the line like he was ball today, if the ball turns in you’ll get your man LBW or caught at forward short leg.”