The Australians were already worried about facing Ravichandran Ashwin even before the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and in order to deal with the Indian spinner in a proper manner, they hired Baroda’s Maheesh Pithiya, an Indian spinner whose bowling action is very similar to the bowling action of Ravichandran Ashwin. As per the reports, Maheesh Pithiya has travelled to Delhi as well with the Australian team but it doesn’t seem that Australia has got benefitted with his services.
While Ravichandran Ashwin played an important role in defeating the Aussies in the first test match which was played at Nagpur, in the ongoing second test match which is being played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, he once again gave a huge blow to the Aussies as he dismissed 3 batters in the first innings. What made things more difficult for the Australian team was that Ashwin dismissed Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith within three deliveries, the former was looking in good touch but he got out at the score of 18 runs and Steve Smith got out for duck.
Many cricket fans and former Indian cricketers praised Ravichandran Ashwin for his superb bowling but the tweet which got the most attention was of the IPL team Rajasthan Royals.
R Ashwin is a part of RR and the Rajasthan franchise took a jibe at the Aussies by posting a photo of Ashwin with the caption, “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯”.
Here is the tweet:
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯" pic.twitter.com/ZR6FCr8OJD
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) February 17, 2023
As far as the match is concerned, Australia scored 263 runs in its first innings and in response, the Indians managed to score 262 runs with the help of Axar Patel’s knock of 74 runs. Ashwin also played a good innings of 37 runs and kept the score board ticking along with Axar Patel when the Indian team had lost 7 wickets at the score of 139 runs.
By the end of the day 2, Australia has taken a lead of 62 runs as it has scored 61/1 with Travis Head (39 runs) and Marnus Labuschagne (16 runs) at the crease. The only wicket that the team has lost is of opener Usman Khawaja who got out on the score of 6 runs.
With 3 days left, it is quite obvious that the result will come in this test match and it will completely depend on the performances of both the teams in the second innings. Which team has a better chance now according to you? Let us know your opinion.
