Every bowler has strengths that help him or her take wickets in bulk at the highest level. It could be the bowler’s preparation or the player’s skills in general that becomes his/her strength. R Ashwin‘s major strength is bowling to the left-handers in all forms of the game. Most of the left-handed batsmen find it hard while facing R Ashwin in Tests. Recently, a Twitter user pulled out a statistic that further re-iterates why Ashwin is just unstoppable when there is a left-hander is at the crease.
Left-handers have a difficult time facing R Ashwin in Tests
Out of the 400+ wickets that R Ashwin has picked in Tests for India so far, around half of them have been caught out. He has also got a few LBW and bowled dismissals in his account. Whenever Ashwin comes on to bowl, if there is a left-hander at the crease, a wicket always happens to be around the corner. A right-arm off-spinner does enjoy a battle against the southpaws but in Ashwin’s case, it has gone even further. Players have just not been able to play him well, let alone, survive against the legendary spinner.
Only nine batters have remained unscathed against Ashwin
A recent statistic says that R Ashwin has bowled to 78 left-handers in his Test career. Out of this, he has got 69 of them out while only nine have managed to survive Ashwin’s bowling.
This is a phenomenal number considering the span of Ashwin’s career. Usually, analysts spot a pattern in a bowler, especially when he is finding success against a particular type of attribute. However, in the problem statement of left-handers getting dismissed by Ashwin, there still has not been a solution. Also, Ashwin has done well on different kinds of pitches and conditions, which further proves his brilliance.
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
