Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has enjoyed a fantastic six months in Test cricket, starting with the tour of the West Indies, to the home Tests against New Zealand and now in the series against England.
In 2016, Ashwin has picked up 65 wickets in 11 Test matches at an average of 22.44. He also has seven five-wicket hauls in the calendar year, which is quite a remarkable number.
On Friday, in the fourth Test against England at Mumbai, the Tamil Nadu spinner would record his latest fifer, ending the innings with figures of 6/112.
Speaking at the end of play on the second day, Ashwin picked the dismissal of England’s star batsman Joe Root as his favourite scalp because it was something he had worked on.
Root was dismissed for 22 after he was lured into an off drive by a wide delivery from Ashwin. The ball caught the edge of the England batsman’s bat before Virat Kohli snatched onto a mildly difficult catch at first slip.
“I would say Root (was my favourite wicket). I have been watching a lot of videos of his dismissals. He has got out to Dane Piedt in the past driving and push driving. I was visualising it and it just happened. Rarely it happens in Test cricket,” said Ashwin.
“Also, I bowled a very good spell after lunch (on day one). I told Kohli to stay in one position as he was moving to prevent singles from Root.”
Most five fer for India in Tests;
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) December 9, 2016
Kumble: 35
Harbhajan: 25
Ashwin: 23
Kapil Dev: 23
Except Ashwin all played more than 100 Tests!
Ashwin mentioned that this bowling effort of his was special because the pitch wasn’t the easiest to bowl on, on day one. The 30-year-old had taken four out of the five English wickets to fall on the opening day of the Test.
“I would say pretty special because of the way the wicket was behaving yesterday (Thursday) and I thought it was a very good wicket for batting,” added Ashwin.
“It was very tough to build maidens. Because of the pace of the wicket, it was difficult to pick the right length. A lot of things you need to get right to keep the batsmen in check. There is time for batsmen to adjust to the bounce here.”
India were 146/1 at the end of play on Friday, still 254 runs adrift of England’s first innings total.
