Ashwin primed to be handed lone spinner’s role
Between them, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have taken just six wickets in South Africa. All were scalped by Jadeja, in the first innings of the Durban Test in 2013 that India lost by 10 wickets. Despite their great record at home, they have next to nothing to boast here.
That justifies the talk about seamers from both sides playing major roles while spinners have been almost an afterthought. In their defence, both played only one Test each, four years ago.
In this series though, no wicket-taking option can be ignored. And assuming India will go with at least three quicks, Ashwin looks set to be the lone spinner. Jadeja has a viral infection and his fitness will be assessed on Friday.
Such has been the nature of the
Newlands pitch that it only starts to aid spinners from the fourth, or in most occasions, the fifth day. With the strip still wearing a grass cover that might be shaved only a little, spinners are bound to have a hard time.
Unless some roughs are created. That was exactly where Ashwin was trying to land most of his deliveries while bowling in tandem with seamers and then alone. On Wednesday, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma were the first to have a go at the batsmen before Ashwin started bowling with Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. It was an indication of where Ashwin fits in the attack.
“It is a very important role because you have to support the fast bowlers as well,” said M Vijay, who could open with Shikhar Dhawan, declared fit after an ankle injury. “If you can bowl the spinners, they can come in and get a couple of wickets here and there. It will be a great help.” Between 2013 and 2017, Ashwin has improved in leaps and bounds, incorporating small tweaks. But on this tour, it looks like Ashwin will face the challenge of overcoming the conditions. With left-handers Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock in the South Africa side, Ashwin will hope to sow the doubts by spinning the ball away from them. But if he can’t, Ashwin must try to tie them down.
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