Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel showered praise on Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell in the first innings of the second Test match at Pune on Thursday. Ashwin returned with impressive figures of 3-64 after having a mundane Bengaluru Test.
Ashwin was the first spinner to get the ball from Rohit Sharma and the veteran spinner didn’t disappoint, accounting for New Zealand skipper Tom Latham with a perfect delivery to plumb the southpaw in front of the wickets.
The off-spinner then dismissed Will Young, with Rishabh Pant taking a good catch down the leg side. The veteran then removed top-scorer Devon Conway as the left-hander edged the ball to Pant.
“Whenever India has to make a comeback, you look towards a senior player to show you the path. Here also, when the Test match started and when you had to make a comeback, your most senior player showed the way. He (Ashwin) picked up the first three wickets and then the young player Washington Sundar took seven wickets,” Parthiv Patel said on Colors Cineplex.
Patel noted Ashwin picked wickets because of his skills as there wasn’t much help in the surface in the early stages of the day.
“When he came to bowl at the start, there wasn’t that much wear and tear on the pitch. There wasn’t that much bounce and it wasn’t turning that much. He is picking up his wickets relying on his skills,” Patel added.
Patel highlighted Ashwin took a backseat when Sundar was going strongly at the other end. Sundar returned with career-best figures of 7-59 to help India skittle out New Zealand at 259.
“He knows the lengths on which he would get wickets. When some other bowler attacks, even if he is a young spinner, as Washington Sundar was doing, he takes a back seat. He was bowling tightly. He has the quality and that is why you are seeing him in that big list,” he said.
Ashwin also overtook Nathan Lyon’s tally of 530 Test wickets when he accounted for Devon Conway.
“We have seen the list in which his name comes – Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon. The two legendary spinners of this era, R Ashwin and Nathan Lyon, both are close to each other. They will keep moving up and down,” Patel stated.
India were 16-1 at the close of play on day 1, in arrears to New Zealand’s first innings score by 243 runs.
