Former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun said that Team India should utilise veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin as their first-choice spinner during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy first Test against Australia at Perth's Optus Stadium. Arun was speaking to Revsportz and said that the veteran is a "hugely thinking" player and his impact during the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he took 12 wickets in three matches and played a match-drawing block-a-thon with Hanuma Vihari at Sydney, is not given due recognition.
"If you ask me, I would play Ashwin as India's first-choice spinner. He has the experience of playing in Australia and is a hugely thinking cricketer. His impact in the last series is not always given due recognition. The way he bowled against Steve Smith, his record against Usman Khwaja, the presence of left-handers in the lineup - you have to say it should be Ashwin. Also, he is a very handy batter. Think of his Sydney effort and you will know what I am speaking about," said Arun to Revsportz.
In 10 Tests in Australia, Ashwin has taken 39 wickets at a rather disappointing average of 42.15, with best figures of 4/55. He has also scored 384 runs in 19 innings, averaging 24.00, with two fifties to his name.
Stacked up with his partner-in-spin Jadeja, Ashwin has more experience but Jadeja has finer stats. In four Tests, Jadeja has taken 14 wickets, averaging around 21 with best figures of 4/62. He has also scored 175 runs in five innings, averaging 43.75 and scoring two fifties.
Also, Washington, who scored a half-century and smashed 84 runs in total, took a total of four wickets in his solitary Test appearance at Australia, is also in contention to play following an impressive home series outing against New Zealand, in which he took 16 wickets in two matches, topping the charts, and also scored 89 runs in four innings.
Speaking about the inexperience of the Indian bowling line-up, who were left without Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Jadeja and Umesh Yadav during the iconic Gabba Test in 2021 due to injuries, Arun said that Washington, Shardul Thakur and T Natrajan, roped in as backups/net bowler, stayed with the team and had gained clarity of their roles as they witnessed the entire Test series unfolding in Australia.
Arun said, "To lose Jasprit [Bumrah], Ashwin, [Mohammed] Shami, Umesh [Yadav] and [Ravindra] Jadeja can never be easy. You have in actuality lost your entire attack. But you see, that is where you need to step up as coach. You need to relish the challenge. With Bumrah, Shami and Ashwin, you know you have great guys to do the job for you. Each one is a legend, whether Bharath Arun is there or not. The job becomes slightly easier when each of these bowlers are available to you."
"At the Gabba, however, things were very different. You can say we got lucky because of COVID-19. It was only because of the times we were living in that we had Washington, T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur with the team. We could not get replacements from India and it was prudent to keep them back in case of an eventuality. What this meant was they had seen everything that had transpired in Australia. They were part of every dressing room chat and every practice session. They knew what we wanted and what we were after. Having been with us for two months, none of them needed to be told what we wanted them to do," he added.
Arun recalled that this inexperienced bowling line-up relished the challenge of defeating Australia at Gabba to win the series and kept things simple.
"Each one of these players have made the Indian team for a reason. They are good enough to be in the top 20 in the country. Each one has his strength and that's all we reminded them of. They needed to bowl to their strengths, and not worry about the result. They did, and the rest is history," he concluded.
After the series opener in Perth on November 22, the second Test, featuring the day-night format, will take place under lights at Adelaide Oval from December 6 to 10.
Fans will then turn their attention to The Gabba in Brisbane for the third Test from December 14 to 18. The traditional Boxing Day Test, scheduled from December 26 to 30 at Melbourne's iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, will mark the series' penultimate stage.
The fifth and final Test will be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7, promising an exciting climax to a highly anticipated series.
India's squad for Border-Gavaskar Series: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal.
Australia squad for the first Test: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
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