Ravichandran Ashwin is on a roll as he got off to a great start in County Cricket, playing for Worcestershire. It seems like he is making a statement in front of the critics who said that he could not pick wickets on foreign soil and only dominates on sub continent pitches. Ashwin made his Worcestershire debut memorable, taking 8 wickets which included a five-wicket haul, helping his side win by a big margin of 189 runs against Gloucestershire.
Gloucestershire needed 400 runs in the second innings to win the match but it was going to be a bumpy ride with the wear and tear pitch had gone through. Tackling Ashwin was never going to be easy and that’s exactly what happened as Gloucestershire bundled out for 211.
Opener Chris Dent was the off-spinner’s first victim. Ashwin took his second wicket in the second innings getting William Tavare out for a duck. He was introduced into the bowling attack pretty early in the second innings as compared to first innings. Ashwin got the wicket of George Hankins as well, getting him out for a duck.
But, the most priced wicket that Ashwin took was of Jack Taylor – the centurion of the first innings. Taylor was looking to be in good touch in the second innings as well, having scored 43 runs and put on a decent partnership with Phil Mustard. But Ashwin got the breakthrough by trapping him in front of the stumps and pitching the ball up. He got out in a bizarre way as the ball kept low and did not spin enough for him to strike.
ICYMI @ashwinravi99 took EIGHT wickets on his @WorcsCCC debut in the County Championship pic.twitter.com/lzhKxNT16W
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) September 1, 2017
Kieran Noema-Barnett too tried to stitch a partnership but tried to sweep the ball away and was caught in the process.
Ashwin picked up three wickets in the first innings. He did his bit with the bat as well, scoring 36 and 28 in the first innings and second innings and that too at a good strike rate.
