The legendary cricketer Ricky Ponting, who has captained Australia to several wins against India, pointed out that his countrymen underestimated Ravichandran Ashwin’s spin bowling which had costed them as they were bundled out for 191 runs in their first innings at Adelaide Oval.
On day two of the maiden pink-ball Test between India and Australia, Ravichandran Ashwin picked the wicket of dangerman Steve Smith (1). He played with the Aussies batting mainstay’s thinking which paid him. Smith got the edge and the ball ended up in the safe hands of Ajinkya Rahane who was stationed at the slip.
The off-spinner then got the wicket of Travis Head (7) before trapping the debutant Cameron Green, who was caught on mid-wicket by flying Virat Kohli. Ashwin bowled 12 overs before the twilight period and picked up 3 wickets for just 29 runs. Later, he added Nathan Lyon’s wicket in his tally to register a four-for in Australia’s first innings.
Batsmen have looked to be quite aggressive against Ashwin: Ricky Ponting
Ricky Pointing reckoned that his batsmen were opting aggressive approach against Ashwin and in the process, gave away their wickets. He feels that they should have not looked to score runs against him.
“Batsmen have looked to be quite aggressive against Ashwin. I think they’ve just underestimated Ashwin and how good he is. They’ve looked to score their runs from him, and it’s been their undoing,” Ricky Ponting told Channel 7.
Apart from Ravichandran Ashwin’s masterpiece, Jasprit Bumrah sends Australia’s opening pair early to the pavilion albeit he also created several opportunities which the fielder could not capitalise on him. Two catches were off his bowling- first of Marnus Labuschagne who went on to score 44 runs while the second one of Australian captain Tim Paine. But notably, he himself had also dropped the catch of Marnus. However, in the end, Umesh Yadav got the wicket of Marnus.
Yadav also notched the wicket of tailenders Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood while Mohammed Shami could not get the wicket but he bowled beautifully to add pressure on Australians.