Off-spinner R Ashwin titled the morning session of Day 1 of the Delhi Test against Australia into India’s favor, by taking two wickets. Not just two wickets of any batters – but those of the number 1 and 2 ICC ranked Test batters – Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.
At 91/1, with Usman Khawaja having settled down nicely and playing his shots confidently, while Labuschagne, starting to find quick runs having creamed 4 fours, signs were ominous for India.
But, as he has done for well over a decade in home conditions, Ashwin turned the session onto its head with twin strikes – Labuschagne gone for 18 while Smith for a duck.
Showcasing his elite mastery over the ball, and his great understanding of the batters’ mind, Ashwin beat Labuschagne on the inside edge and trapped him lbw, before beating Smith on the outside edge, nicking him through to wicket-keeper KS Bharat, to leave Australia 91/3 and the game back in balance heading into lunch.
Bowling from round the wicket angle, Ravichandran executed his plans brilliantly against two of the best in the world.
Rajasthan Royals hilariously trolled Australian team
Ashwin’s IPL franchise, Rajasthan Royals, put out a hilarious tweet, trolling the Australian team. The Royals admin took a dig at the Aussies for using Ashwin’s doppelganger to prepare for the spinner ahead of the start of the series.
Australia had called up Baroda’s Maheesh Pithiya in their camp in Bangalore. Pithiya has a similar bowling action to Ravichandran. However, it seems like that didn’t help much, as Ravichandran took a five-fer in the second innings in Nagpur and today dismissed Smith and Marnus in Delhi in the first session.
Royals tweeted, “You can clone my action, not my brain,” with a picture of Ashwin.
Here, check out:
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯" pic.twitter.com/ZR6FCr8OJD
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) February 17, 2023
Teams:
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
