I was surprised Ravi Ashwin didn't get any wickets, says Harbhajan Singh

Team India is striving hard to pick the wickets in the second innings and make life difficult for the hosts in Southampton. The bowlers haven’t got any swing but they have probed away in the line of uncertainty to keep the batsmen on the tenterhooks all the time. They ended up getting three wickets eventually and the one just before lunch turned the game on its head. However, Harbhajan Singh is surprised that Ravi Ashwin hasn’t picked a wicket yet where Moeen Ali wrecked havoc the other day.

The pitch is deteriorating very quickly and the roughs are being created outside the right-hander’s off-stump. When the spinner pitches the ball right in the rough, it is spitting with turn and bounce on the batsman like anything. Ashwin troubled Joe Root a couple of times but couldn’t consistently bowl in that area.

Ashwin to pitch more in the rough

Harbhajan Singh, while speaking to the Sky Sports, termed that Team India hold the advantage at lunchtime after getting Keaton Jennings‘ wicket. “That was a big wicket just before lunch – and I’d say the session belongs to India as a result,” he said. Moreover, he also suggested Ashwin to bowl much in the rough areas while also feeling that he will be more dangerous in the second session.

“I was surprised Ashwin didn’t get any wickets. But he didn’t look to try and hit that rough that we were talking about in the morning; if you do hit that rough you’ll probably make more chances. His line has been straighter, much as it was in Nottingham. If he bowled outside off-stump, where the rough is, I think he’ll be far more dangerous,” Bhajji further said.

As far as the ongoing action is concerned, the visitors struck off the very first delivery after the lunch with Mohammed Shami castling Jonny Bairstow straightaway.

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