Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has surpassed legendary Anil Kumble in the most number of wickets against Australia across the formats in International Cricket. The 37-year-old impressed everyone with brilliant bowling in the 2nd ODI against Australia, as he returned with the figure of 3/41 in his seven overs.
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder accomplished this feat by picking up the wicket of Australian opener David Warner during the second ODI in Indore, Ashwin went past Kumble’s record of 142 wickets against Australia with 144 wickets in 68 innings.
As there was more turn-on offer for the off-spinner from the surface, Ravichandran Ashwin made things difficult for the Australian batters in the game. In the 13th over, he removed Marnus Labuschagne with a quicker one through the air followed by the wicket of David Warner, who was adjudged LBW while batting right-handed and Josh Inglis was the last one to fall for the off-spinner in the game.
Due to the unavailability of Axar Patel, R Ashwin was selected for the India ODI team and he made the most of his opportunities producing some good performances for the team. There is a good chance that Ashwin will take Axar Patel’s place in the ICC World Cup 2023 squad if his recuperation is delayed.
Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel are the three main spin bowling options for the Men in Blue in the 15-man squad for the ODI World Cup in India. The Indian selectors passed over Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin for the squad, but Axar’s injury has allowed Ashwin and Sundar to be considered for the World Cup squad if the left-handed all-rounder is unable to recover in the allotted time.
Shubman Gill (104 off 97) and Shreyas Iyer (105 off 90) both scored magnificent hundreds as they amassed 200 runs for the second wicket in the game. Both KL Rahul (52) and Suryakumar Yadav (72) produced strong batting performances to put the Indian side in a commanding position of 399/5 at the end of 50 overs.
While Australian team crumbled under the pressure of chasing the big total, as they lost wickets in regular intervals, with David Warner and Sean Abbott being the only bright for the team in the mammoth chase in Indore and the Pat Cummins-led side will look to turn things around quickly heading into the World Cup, as the team were hammered for their 5th consecutive loss in the ODI cricket.