And now it seems that Steve Smith is shaping up to be Ashwin’s bunny. The officer fired Smith twice in the two test matches so far in the series and this is the fifth time he has brought out the Australian superstar in testing.
Smith has always been a fantastic spinner and uses his feet to great effect. Add to that his ability to use his wrists and here is a gamer who can deal with the cunning of top spinners day after day. However, to Ashwin’s credit, he’s finding numerous ways to get Smith out.
While I was in Adelaide during the pink ball test, primed Smith with a traditional break and then slid into a beautiful straighter to take advantage, Saturday was a big leg break that softened Smith.
The Australian had just gotten in at bat and it looked like he was still a little unsure about his footwork. Ashwin, with a slip on his leg, launched a great deflection that even beat goalkeeper Rishabh Pant and went to fire.
But the seeds of doubt had already been planted in Smith’s mind. He hadn’t expected such a large vaulter so early in the first day and now he couldn’t imagine how much the next ball would spin.
And it was at this moment that Ashwin put his fantastic spinning bowling repertoire into play. He threw one in the same spot and this time, he spun a little less. Smith was committed to playing the look off his hips to hit a single off the mark, but couldn’t keep the ball down despite knowing he’d been set up.
Ashwin’s joy knew no bounds when Smith, the likely nemesis of the Indian team, took the long way back. Ashwin is a cricketer who spends a lot of time trying to master the different variations and outmaneuver batsmen with new ideas. It was obvious that he was excited to get a hitter, who is probably the best spin player outside the subcontinent, to fall into a trap that he has worked on.
The Chennai office has already created a sense of aura around Australians on this tour. Most hitters are not picking their hand variations and are trying to play it off the field.
The other two scalps from his 3-35 on Saturday Tim paine and Matthew Wade are also good effects players. However, Wade, unable to deal with Ashwin, played a desperate shot and caught a high catch in the middle and Paine’s firing was a carbon copy of Smith’s. Ashwin had Marcus Labuschagne’s leg earlier with an off-break that didn’t turn much, but was narrowly disallowed by DRS.
But Ashwin’s spell on a Day 1 track conducive to sewing and pacing was nothing short of a masterclass and the 32-year-old is showing in every move from him how much he has learned in the three test drives he has made. before this for Australia. If India gives a competitive response to Australia’s modest score in the first inning, one can expect Ashwin to work his magic in tandem with Ravindra Jadeja when the hosts hit again.
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