When it comes to bowling against left-handers in any format of the game, R Ashwin is a phenomenon. More so, when it is red-ball cricket. As per a recent statistic, out of the 78 left-handers who have faced Ashwin in Tests, only nine of them have remained not-out. This is a stunning number that proves the brilliance of Ashwin. On that note, in this article, we take a look at four popular left-handers who played against Ashwin but never got dismissed by him in Tests.
FACT: Ravichandran Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) has bowled against 78 left handed batsmen in his Test career. And only 9 out of them have survived without getting dismissed by him.
— Madhav Sharma (@HashTagCricket) December 20, 2021
Advertisement
1) Graeme Smith – 7.2 Overs
Former South African skipper Graeme Smith is one of the popular left-handers who played against Ashwin but never got dismissed by him in Tests. It needs to be noted that Smith never faced Ashwin in India. The last Test that he played in India was in 2010. At that time, Harbhajan Singh was India’s preferred choice in playing XI. When Smith did face Ashwin, it was at the Wanderers in 2013. Ashwin had a difficult game in which he failed to collect a wicket. Smith, in whatever the deliveries he faced by Ashwin, did a decent job.
2) Michael Hussey – 31 Overs
Michael Hussey happens to be the longest surviving left-hander against Ashwin in Tests. The Australian cricketer faced 31 overs of Ashwin’s bowling without losing his wicket. Hussey needs to be appreciated for his skills against Ashwin. He faced him across conditions but never got out. It might have been a different coloured ball, but Hussey faced a lot of Ashwin in the CSK nets. This could have had a bearing on him playing the offie well.
3) Dawid Malan – 6 Overs
Dawid Malan has played only 3 Tests against India so far. Two of them were in 2021 in the tournament, in which R Ashwin did not get a chance. In 2018, Malan played 36 deliveries of Ashwin without getting out. The match happened in Birmingham.
4) Shimron Hetmyer – 6.2 Overs
In the four games that Hetmyer had played against India, two have been in West Indies and the remaining encounters in India. While Ashwin was not part of the West Indies encounters, in India, Hetmyer did well to tackle Ashwin. However, he fell prey to Kuldeep Yadav, who picked him up thrice in that series.
Top-9 most overs batted by left-handers v Ashwin without being out
M Hussey 🇦🇺 (31.0)
Senuran Muthusamy 🇿🇦 (18.3)
Rachin Ravindra 🇳🇿 (12.3)
Imrul Kayes 🇧🇩 (10.2)
Soumya Sarkar 🇧🇩 (9.4)
Taijul Islam 🇧🇩 (9.0)
Graeme Smith 🇿🇦 (7.2)
Shimron Hetmyer 🏝️ (6.2)
Dawid Malan 🏴 (6.0)Advertisement— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) December 21, 2021
