Ace India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has struggled to spill his magic during the ongoing England series, while his partner Kuldeep Yadav has been a positive for the hosts, cricketer-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said.
Following day two play in Ranchi, Karthik touched upon this topic, saying England rookies have done far better than the Indian bowling trio.
With two of England’s spinners – Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed getting ruled out of the remainder of the series for respective reasons, the visitors have just Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir to pick from. Both are named in the playing XI for the Ranchi Test, with Bashir turning heads with his star performance in Ranchi.
Following the second day’s play, Bashir had picked four in the first innings, putting India’s back against the wall.
However, on the flip side, Ravi Ashwin failed to trouble England in the first innings, picking just one wicket for 83, while Ravindra Jadeja returned with four.
“The inexperienced England spinners have definitely bowled better than Indian spinners in this Test. Speaking about each spinner, Kuldeep has been a positive for India, Jadeja has not been consistent, but yes, R Ashwin has definitely not had his best series in India. It’s not often that you can go four Test matches in India without an Ashwin fifer or a four-fer,” Karthik said while speaking with Cricbuzz.
Karthik impressed with English spinners
Lauding the young batch of England spinners, with most of them playing their first international series, Karthik said they have shown promise and delivered, helping their team stay alive in this series.