"Virat Kohli Was Dishing Out A Lesson To Bowlers": Ravichandran Ashwin On Skipper's Spell

As Indian bowlers struggled to make an impact in the practice match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, captain Virat Kohli came to the rescue and bowled a couple of overs with his unconventional right-arm medium fast bowling style. He delivered two overs and conceded just six runs to entertain the crowd both in and off the field. While many of his fans flooded social media with his videos, experienced spinner Ravichandran Ashwin acknowledged the skipper for "dishing out a lesson to all the bowlers".

Well look who had a bowl at the SCG today! An amused Ravi Ashwin talks us through his skipper's spell #CAXIvIND pic.twitter.com/Whtx7S9GSq

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 30, 2018

"I think he was just dishing out a lesson to all the bowlers on probably where we should bowl," Ashwin jokingly said after the third day's play.

The 32-year-old off-spinner, who has 336 Test wickets to his name, explained that Kohli's spell came at the time when bowlers were tiring out and waiting for the second new ball.

"I think he just wanted to bowl a couple of overs. Because the bowlers were tiring out and before the second new ball came into play. That's about it," Ashwin added.

Kohli impressed one and all with his 'part-time' bowling in the third day of the four-day practice match against Cricket Australia XI on Friday. However, this remained the only amusing sight for the Indians on a tough day in Sydney.

After resuming the day from 24/0 against India's first inning total of 358, opener D'Arcy Short gave the hosts a flying start on the penultimate day of the warm-up match. He top-scored for Australia with a 91-ball 74, which included as many as 11 boundaries.

Max Bryant (62), Harry Nielsen (56 not out) and Aaron Hardie (69 not out) supported Short as Australia concluded the day on 356/6, just two runs short of India's total.

For India, Mohammed Shami claimed three wickets, while Umesh Yadav and Ashwin contributed with a wicket each.

Adding to India's misery, teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw suffered an ankle injury after he landed awkwardly on his left leg while fielding early in the morning session. The 19-year-old opening batsman has been ruled out of the first Test in Adelaide.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Virat Kohli Ravichandran Ashwin Australia vs India 2018/19 Cricket