Increase pace, revs on ball: Skipper tells his spinners
HYDERABAD: As spinners world over are trying to bowl quicker through the air in a bid to stop batsmen playing the sweep shot, Virat Kohli has urged his lead spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to follow the Moeen Ali way to be more effective. The England right-arm orthodox bowler had rocked India in the fourth Test at Southampton with a match-haul of nine wickets and Kohli was obviously impressed. Ali bowled at close to 90kmph and the drifting ball bamboozled the top Indian batsmen.
Barring Cheteshwar Pujara’s 132 not out in the first innings, Ali polished off India’s lower middle order and then accounted for Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane as England ran out winners.
Ashwin admitted during India’ tour of England that his County stint with Worcestershire last year made him realise how “bowling at the right pace” was key to success outside the sub-continent. “Wickets are slow, even on the first day. Even if there is bounce, if you don’t get the pace right, the batsman will get a lot of time to play the same ball on the front and on the back foot,” Ashwin had said. On Thursday, Kohli echoed Ashwin when asked about whether he had decided on the spin department going to Australia. “Basically you look at guys who are putting revs on the ball, that’s something I feel always works in overseas conditions. Guys who can get the ball to bite off the pitch are the ones to succeed --- not just in Indian condition but overseas as well,” he said.
“If you see Moeen, it’s the pace on the ball that puts you in doubt. I think Ash did that beautifully in England, he bowled quicker than he used to and that’s something he has added to his game. Jaddu is the bowler who always has done that. These two guys are equipped to do the job in any condition.”
SG BALL SLAMMED
And just as Ashwin did after the first Test against the West Indies in Rajkot, Kohli too has been critical of the SG ball. “To have a ball scuffed up in five overs is something that we haven’t seen before. The quality of the ball used to be quite high before and I don’t understand the reason why it’s gone down,” he said.