R Ashwin Blasts England After Ashes 2025 Opener Flop Show, Gives 'Reckless' Verdict

Former Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin blasted England for their disappointing show in the first Ashes 2025 Test match against Australia in Perth. England batters did not impress at all as the match ended in under 2 days with Australia registering an eight-wicket win. Ashwin was extremely critical of England's much-hyped Bazball strategy and went on to call their approach 'reckless'. England scored less than 200 in both innings with not a single batter playing more than 61 deliveries. 

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said, "But how reckless will reckless suffice? I am actually thinking, where will the bandwidth of the word 'reckless' remain? If you keep putting everything into that bandwidth, how reckless can even reckless get? Because I am saying that, you know, there are many things. I do not want to take the names of players. Even in the Indian team, there will be many next-generation players who, I mean, the fielders are back on the boundary, yet they take the chance, they hit lofted shots."

"As a batting group, how reckless can you be? Because on the first day, you were knocked out for 172, you lost five wickets in the space of 12, 15 or maybe 20 runs. After that, your bowling attack wrested the initiative back and gave you a 40-run lead. And your first job as a batting unit is to give your bowlers enough rest. And Rahul (Dravid) bhai always says, Give your bowlers overnight rest and see how your bowlers respond. They came and cleaned up the last wicket. The England bowlers, I am sure, would have wanted to put their feet up, and in no time they are back on the park looking to defend 200, which is paltry," he added.

"So I know Michael Vaughan was saying on commentary that this team knows how to come back. I hope they do, because this will become a very, very, very long tour otherwise," he concluded.

(With ANI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

England Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Ravichandran Ashwin Australia vs England, Ashes 2025-26 Cricket