“You cannot keep Ashwin out of the game for too long” – RP Singh lauds Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell on Day 3

Former Indian left-arm fast bowler RP Singh praised Ravichandran Ashwin’s spell on the third day of the fourth Test match at Ranchi on Sunday. Ashwin returned with impressive figures of 5-51 on Sunday against England to put India in front.

After India bounced back with the bat, courtesy of a fine knock of 90 runs from Dhruv Jurel, the veteran spinner opened the bowling innings and was able to strike twice early as he accounted for Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.

Furthermore, Ashwin scalped the big wicket of Joe Root, who scored a fine century in the first innings, as he plumbed him in front. Moreover, the off-spinner dismissed Ben Foakes and James Anderson.

While speaking to Colors Cineplex, RP Singh said, “R Ashwin wasn’t having a good series in terms of his bowling performances but we knew that you cannot keep Ashwin out of the game for too long. He will have an impact and he made an impact here. We needed wicket-taking bowling here and Ashwin did that.”

“I thought they would get the fast bowlers to bowl at the start but the captain took the right call in getting Ashwin to bowl. The important thing is to get wickets and for that, to create circumstances and to read the wicket. The captain did all of that and Ashwin lived up to that,” Singh stated.

The former Uttar Pradesh bowler, who had a smooth action, added that Joe Root was a big wicket for the home team.

“He bowled well and was slightly lucky as well in getting wickets. He dismissed Ben Duckett, that was a good ball. Joe Root was a big wicket. It is a skill to bowl around the wickets and make the ball pitch in line, which would have then gone on to hit the stumps,” he said.

Singh lauded Ashwin for making great use of the around-the-wicket angle to get the better of Root.

“He used the angle in such a way that the ball fell in that strip and you got success. So it was fantastic bowling. A big-match player gave a good performance at an important time,” Singh added.

India needs another 152 runs to win the third Test match with 10 wickets at hand on Monday.