Ashwin disclosing his variations was like a magician revealing his tricks, says Sunil Gavaskar
He began the series by picking seven wickets but has faded away since then.
Ravi Ashwin has bowled well in the ongoing Test series between India and England. He has added a lot of variations to his bowling which caught the hosts off guard in the series opener at Edgbaston. But somehow, India’s best off-spinner hasn’t been able to add to his wicket-tally in the following two matches. He was seen revealing his tricks of Ian Ward during an interview after the first Test which has infuriated Sunil Gavaskar and has called him foolish for doing the same.
Virat Kohli had surprised everyone by introducing the spinner into the attack only in the 7th over of the innings. He didn’t disappoint the skipper and bowled a beauty of a delivery to castle England’s opener Alastair Cook. Ashwin went on pick four wickets and also backed that performance with three more scalps in the second innings. He ended the game with the figures of 7/121.
Why would he do that?
But after the first game, he has managed to pick a solitary wicket in four innings and is also doubtful for the fourth Test match due to his injury. Sunil Gavaskar, in his column for Sportstar Live, has come down hard at Ashwin for revealing his bag of tricks to Ian Ward during the post-match interview. Ashwin was seen spilling the beans of his grip while bowling different variations and Gavaskar felt the video could’ve used by England think tank to play him out.
“This recording will no doubt be used by the England think-tank and especially their batsmen when they sit down before every Test to plan how to counter the Indian bowlers and particularly Ashwin. It was like a magician revealing his bag of tricks to the audience. Perhaps it won’t make a difference and Ashwin will go onto bag heaps of wickets in the rest of the series too, but if he doesn’t then he has only himself to blame,” he wrote.
Ashwin might have gotten carried away with the success in the first Test but he was played out easily then by the opposition. There is no doubt that he is an exceptional bowler and he shouldn’t have unveiled his variations.
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