Cheteshwar Pujara defends Ravi Ashwin after he failed to live up to the expectations

Going into the third day’s play, there were some high expectations on the Indian off-spinner Ravi Ashwin. With Moeen Ali picking up a five-wicket haul in the first innings, he had to wreck havoc in the second innings to keep India ahead in the game. Ashwin had everything in his favour, right from the pitch to the weather.

The sun was out, there were rough patches and huge foot holes on the pitch at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. Adding to it was the number of left-handers in the England line-up. In such conditions, Ashwin generally runs through the opposition line-ups.

Hence, Virat Kohli also kept enough belief in him and persisted with him from one end. However, the off-spinner failed to deliver and hence was heavily criticised. Ashwin’s bowling figures at the end of the day read: 35-7-78-1. But Team India’s No 3 batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara came out in defence of the 31-year-old.

He will easily find wickets

Amidst all the criticism, Pujara said that the off-spinner will come good on day-4. On being asked if he would pick the last few wickets, Pujara said in the affirmative that, “He will.” The right-handed batsman added that Ashwin is a clever bowler and his experience will definitely come in handy. He also noted that the dryness in the pitch will assist Ravi Ashwin to turn the ball. Pujara felt that the rough patches will help.

“With his experience, he will pick up few wickets. He is a clever bowler. He will definitely utilise the rough and there some turn from the centre as well. It is not just the pitch, but the dryness of the pitch which will allow him to spin the ball,” he said in the press conference.

As per the statistics on CricViz, the Indian offie managed four degrees of spin, which is the most in any Test innings in this series. Along with it were, the 8% play-and-misses, which is also the most. He was quite unfortunate to have only got one wicket in the innings and will be eyeing at finishing off the England tail on Sunday.

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