India skipper Rohit Sharma praised India’s spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, claiming that captaining them was equivalent to captaining Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc in Australia.
In-depth details about Rohit Sharma compares captaining Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in India to captaining Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in Australia
As India grabbed a 1-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar series, Ashwin and Jadeja engineered Australia’s collapse in the first Test here, thrashing the visitors by an innings and 132 runs. Rohit further stated that the Indian duo always strives to “achieve the next level” when playing Tests.
“He (Ashwin) appears to be a different bowler. I wouldn’t call him an improved bowler since he has always been a terrific bowler, but he appears to be a different bowler every time he plays Test cricket. That’s exactly what good cricketers do. “They try to raise their game and get to the next level,” Rohit explained.
Ashwin, who has 450 Test wickets to his name, also picked up his 31st five-for and a match tally of eight wickets.
Asked about the sense of captaining a side that includes Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel in its ranks, Rohit remarked, “It’s like captaining (Pat) Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc in Australia. Quite similar. It’s always a blessing to have the talent of Axar, Jadeja, and Ash, who have all played in India for many years on grounds like this.” Rohit, who got a century and set up a 400-run total, said the pitch conditions are the same for everyone, but what distinguishes the three India spinners is their ability to pull the most out of the wicket.
“Conditions exist for everyone, but what people extract from those conditions makes them truly unique. They’ve spent a lot of time on these pitches, so they know where to hit and how to keep the pressure on.”
