Ravichandran Ashwin put on a spin-bowling masterclass on Saturday, February 11, as he picked up another five-wicket haul in Tests to break the back of the Australian batting line-up in the first Test at Nagpur. Courtesy the superb spell from Ashwin, India beat the visiting Australians by an innings and 132 runs as the home team took 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Indian bowlers bowled out Australia under one session in the 2nd innings. Ashwin grabbed a five-for while Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed finished with 2 wickets each in the 2nd innings as Axar Patel, at last, got his first wicket of the match.
This was also Ashwin's 25th five-wicket haul at home and 31st overall. He went past James Anderson (24). Rangana Herath (26) is still ahead of him while Muralitharan sit at the top woth 45 five-fors.
Twitter could not keep calm looking at Ashwin's brilliant show and came up with interesting reactions:
Ash Anna supremacy ______ pic.twitter.com/UdCKklOpIU
— Ritika Malhotra __ (@FanGirlRohit45) February 11, 2023
450 Test wicket for Ash Anna _
Team start celebration for Ashwin be like _ #ravichandranashwin pic.twitter.com/ULrEviNltl— Ashutosh Srivastava __ (@sri_ashutosh08) February 9, 2023
Ash anna to all left handed batsmen today #Ashwin #AshAnna #INDvsAUS #INDvsAUSTest pic.twitter.com/p3TKdljGP2
— Tony stank (@AppuSk7) February 11, 2023
Ravichandran Ashwin & Ravindra Jadeja in 1st Test. All round performance by Ash Anna and Sir Jadeja jaddu Bhai _#ravichandranashwin #AshAnna #RavindraJadeja #jaddu #INDvsAUS#INDvsAUSTest #nagpurtest pic.twitter.com/FBxmW1mrcl
— Ashutosh Srivastava __ (@sri_ashutosh08) February 11, 2023
Legend of India __
Ash Anna
They can't play him pic.twitter.com/X6H5qK5RTm— Ashish Shrivastava (@ashishayush1177) February 11, 2023
There were many stars in the match including Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ashwin, Axar Patel and Mohammed Shami too displayed an all-round show. Australia, on the other hand, lacked heroes. Big players such as Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, David Warner and Usman Khawaja failed collectively and the big price was paid.
There were glaring weaknesses in the way Aussies batted and Ashwin and Jadeja made use of these mistakes. Ashwin, as usual, targetted the stumps and the wickets kept coming. The 36-year-old spinner however mentioned in his post-match thoughts that Australians cannot be taken lightly as they are a world class team and he is sure that Delhi Test will be a completely different match than this.
The second Test will be played at Delhi from February 17 to 21. This Test ended in just under 3 days, meaning both the sides have got themselves an extra two day. Australia, however, must use these extra days to go back to drawing board and plan better.
