Just when it looked like Australia were within touching distance of an Ashesh series win, England played fearless crickets to level the Ashes series on a dramatic final day of the fifth Test at The Oval. Australia were well-placed at 264-3, chasing a mammoth 384 to win, and even had they come away with just a draw, that would have been enough to secure a 2-1 series success. But instead they suffered a dramatic collapse after a lengthy rain delay on the fifth day at The Oval.
Ravichandran Ashwin gave his take on the Drawn series. "A mistake that Australia did in the last three Tests is that, when your foot is on the pedal, you should not even think about hitting the brake or think to play it safe. That's what England showed to Australia. The same Australia when they played India at they same Oval, they scored excess of four runs per over. I don't know whether their DNA got mapped this way or whether their ego took over to prove England by playing too slowly. They lost the plot in all three Test matches playing too slowly," he said on his YouTube channel.
"Australia retained the Ashes, but England have shown yet again that they are playing a form of cricket that is entertaining," the 36-year-old added.
Ashwin explained that Australia badly missed the services of Lyon. "Even in the first Test, England played at the same tempo. But somehow, Nathan Lyon ended up picking eight wickets. It looked like England batted well, but they would have scored only 270-280. You can't score 6-7 runs in his overs consistently. Mitchell Starc picked up wickets in the last four Tests, but it's not easy to be as accurate as a Nathan Lyon, pitching the ball consistently and getting turn.
"Nathan Lyon was more like an important cog in the wheel. It's not easy to replace the cog in the wheel. This Ashes is a prime example of that. Once Lyon got injured, their attack became one-dimensional."