Team India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has backed veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to do well in the final innings of India’s first Test against South Africa in Centurion. Karthik stated that Ashwin went wicketless in the first innings because he took a defensive role and it’s only a matter of one wicket for him to return to his form as well.
Like Day 1, pace-bowlers dominated Day 3 also. While Team India bowled out South Africa for 197, Ashwin bowled 13 overs but hardly bowled with an aggressive attitude. His role was to hold one end whereas three pacers rotated on another.
On the show ‘Cricbuzz Chatter’, Karthik said:
“Oh definitely, a lot more than he did in the first innings, for a start. Obviously, in the first innings, the situation he bowled in was very different. It was more like they had picked up the wickets, they needed to give a break to the faster bowlers so he bowled to very defensive fields. I think if he gets one wicket it’s a different Ashwin that you’ll see with the people there in the short leg and silly point, putting the pressure. And if the cracks do open up, with Marco Jansen again coming back to the bowl and creating the rough. So Ashwin will be far more in the game.”
Dinesh Karthik further added:
“But I don’t see him picking more than 1-2 wickets and I say that because I feel that majority of the wickets need to be picked by the four fast bowlers… At this point, Ashwin will play the holding role but I still see him picking a wicket or two in the second innings.”
“He understands the game better now than ever” – Shaun Pollock on Mohammed Shami
While Ravichandran Ashwin went wicketless, fast-bowler Mohammed Shami picked up a fifer. With this, Shami claimed his sixth five-wicket haul in Test cricket, while also reaching 200 Test wickets for India as well. Speaking in the same interaction, Shaun Pollock praised the fast bowler saying:
“I just thought the lengths I have seen Shami bowl over the years, the fact that maybe he is not as tall as some of the other bowlers, and he’s a little bit more skiddy, meant that he was going to be hitting those areas more often… He’s not a massive mover of the ball so he always seems like he’s in and around that off-stump, and it’s not shaping away or doing too much and that’s what makes him such a difficult customer to deal with. I really think he understands the game better now than ever. That’s why I just knew he was going to be a handful.”
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