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The India and Pakistan’s cricketing ties may once again be heading toward a complete breakdown
Digital Desk: Cricket relations between India and Pakistan have enduringly suffered from the enduring border tension that continues to affect
Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that a lack of a quality left-arm fast bowler is hurting the Men in Blue...
Digital Desk: Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that a lack of a quality left-arm fast bowler is hurting the Men in Blue. He feels the position has stayed vacant since Zaheer Khan's retirement.
He admitted that Indian batters have struggled against left-arm pacers, especially balls that nip back into right-handers. However, Ashwin emphasized that the problem is not limited to Rohit Sharma and his team.
The veteran campaigner made the point that the angles left-arm pacers generate make it challenging to tackle them. He believes that while Virat Kohli and others confront right-arm bowlers in the nets, facing left-arm bowlers is a completely different experience.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said, "Once Zaheer Khan retired, India hasn't found a proper left-arm seamer. There is no use of saying that we have a problem in facing a left-arm seamer because he brings different dynamics of the game into play. In the 2019 World Cup semi-final, Trent Boult swung the ball and took the wicket of Virat Kohli."
"Facing that angle is completely different. In the nets, Virat Kohli will be facing Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. All of them are fantastic bowlers. When a left-arm seamer bowls from over the stumps, he is suddenly bringing the stumps into play. How many right-arm seamers are bowling inswing at the moment? Since we don't have a left-arm seamer, we are unable to put the opponent under pressure," he added.
"Many people are talking about how Indian batters are struggling against the left-arm angle, and blah blah blah. See, a left-arm angle itself is a massive advantage to the opponents. Almost all selection process will be eyeing specifically a left-arm fast bowler. All the IPL teams will give premium value to a left-arm fast bowler because a left-arm seamer creates problems for almost all cricketers," he said.
The Indian batters have been scrutinized for their repetitive failures against left-arm pacers. Mitchell Starc of Australia ran through India's top order in the second ODI of the ongoing series, scooping up his ninth five-wicket haul as the visitors bundled out India for just 117 runs.
On the other hand, Ravichandran Ashwin showered praise on Mitchell Starc, noting that the bowler has contributed greatly to Australia's success over the years, particularly in one-day internationals.
He suggested that the 33-year-old be considered one of the all-time greats. According to Ashwin, Starc has surpassed the stature of legendary fast bowler Brett Lee in the 50-over format.
"Shaun Tait is saying that Mitchell Starc is on his way to becoming an all-time great. But if you ask me, he has already gone past that stage. Australia have had their share of all-time greats like Glenn McGrath. But when it comes to ODIs, Starc is on par with Brett Lee. I feel Starc has even gone past Brett Lee's stature in ODI cricket," he said.
With a crushing 10-wicket win over India in the second One-Day International, Australia evened the three-match series. The final match takes place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday, March 22.
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