At the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Thursday, March 2, India bowled Australia out for 197 runs in the first innings of the third Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. After the first hour of Day 2’s first session, former cricketers were shocked when Rohit Sharma chose to use veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
After 15 overs of play in the morning session, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled for India, who started with Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, and then Axar Patel. Throughout the first hour of play, Australia did not lose a wicket. In his second, Ashwin defeated well-set batter Peter Handscomb and scored. The 36-year-old went on to bowl out Toddy Murphy and Alex Carey.
The majority of the overs were bowled by Ravindra Jadeja, who posted career-high figures in the previous match and bowled 32 overs. The Tamil Nadu spinner, the active Indian bowler with the most wickets, only bowled 20.3 overs. Today, the off-spinner put together a fantastic spell, taking three wickets for four runs in 4.3 overs.
Ajit Agarkar, a former Indian pacer, questioned Ashwin’s decision to bowl only 16 overs. Agarkar and Mitchell Johnson, a former Australian pacer, criticized Rohit Sharma’s strategies for bringing Ashwin into the attack on Day 2.
Don’t think that India’s strategies have been spot-on. In the first hour, no Ashwin? He is your best bowler, but he has only bowled 16 overs thus far. Although I am aware that Axar Patel is playing as a specialist spinner, Ashwin must win. In a commentary, Agarkar stated, “It’s baffling.”
One Might Spin, And One Might Not – Mitchell Johnson
On the second day of the match, Australia scored 156 runs while losing four wickets. After the visitors collapsed from 186-4 to 197 with no outs, they gained 88 runs. For just 11 runs, the Indian bowlers took their final six wickets. Before the lunch break, the home team scored 13 runs without losing any wickets.
In the morning session of Day 2 of the third Test against Australia at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, India captain Rohit Sharma had to throw the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin, which took about 55 minutes and 15 overs. After overnight batters Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green got off to a strong start, negating everything India threw at them for the first hour, India finally decided to use the veteran off-spinner after switching to Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja.
On a pitch with a lot of turn for tweakers, Ashwin, India’s highest wicket-taker among active cricketers, opened the bowling with spin partner Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday. But was that enough to keep your best spinner, the cricketer who just surpassed James Anderson to become the No. 1 Test bowler, out of the attack for so long? After all, the spinners are supposed to have the most purchase during the morning session.