MP’s former Test spinner Rajesh Chauhan, who teamed up with Anil Kumble and V Raju to beat England 3-0 in 1992-93, hails Ashwin and wants to see leggie Amit Mishra whitewash sides
Amit Mishra bowls in the Antigua Test during India’s tour of West Indies in July 2016. (Inset) Rajesh Chauhan
Former India off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan, who along with current India chief coach Anil Kumble and left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju formed a dangerous trio to whitewash Graham Gooch’s England 3-0 in the 1992-93 home series, underlined the importance of a third specialist spinner in Virat Kohli’s playing XI.
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Chauhan, who represented Madhya Pradesh with distinction, has been witnessing the ongoing Test at Indore.
“At one point we thought New Zealand may put up around 450, but the way Ravichandran Ashwin bowled we were able to take a first innings lead of 258. We had to use part-time offie Murli Vijay, who bowled seven overs,” Chauhan told mid-day.
“We have leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the squad so we should use him on such pitches. At home, we must play our top three spinners.”
Chauhan (49) supported Kohli’s decision not to enforce the follow-on against the Kiwis. “It’s a good decision. Maybe our bowlers were exhausted because they bowled a lot (90.2 overs) and we basically used two bowlers for the bulk of the overs. They probably needed a good rest to bowl quality spells in the second innings,” said Chauhan, who claimed 47 wickets in 21 Tests.
Chauhan felt no praise was enough for Ashwin. “In just 39 matches, Ashwin has claimed 20 five-wicket hauls. This is a big milestone in itself for any bowler. A lot of hard work gone into Ashwin’s success,” said Chauhan.
Speaking about Ashwin’s mastery on purchasing wickets, Chauhan said: “He has developed his own deliveries which are unplayable for visiting batsmen. It’s not easy to bowl the straighter one on this turning track. He got two leg before verdicts with the straighter one while three batsmen were caught in the slips, so he has mastered the art of bowling leg cutters on such turning tracks to buy his wickets.”
Ashwin conceded 81 runs for his six wickets from 27.2 overs.
20
Number of times R Ashwin has bagged a fifer in Test cricket. He is fourth behind Anil Kumble (35), Harbhajan Singh (25) and Kapil Dev (23) among Indians
213
Number of Test wickets Ashwin has scalped in 39 Tests at an average of 24.81
188
Tom Latham has scored this many runs in the series. He is top run-scorer for New Zealand. Luke Ronchi follows him with 185
12
Number of ducks Ross Taylor has bagged in 76 Tests. For the first time, he has recorded two ducks in a Test series
1
Number of ducks Luke Ronchi recorded in Tests
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