With the pitches in India expected to offer turn, the spinners will play a crucial role in the upcoming series.
The Indian team is all done with their final preparations as they face England in the first of the five-match Test series tomorrow (January 25) in Hyderabad. The five-match series is expected to be a mouthwatering encounter and despite India’s dominant record at home, it won’t be an easy task to tackle England, who are set to challenge the hosts with their new and aggressive Bazball.
With the pitches in India expected to offer turn, the spinners will play a crucial role in the upcoming series. One player on whom the hosts will depend for his guile and expertise is veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin is on the cusp of creating history by becoming the second Indian bowler to take 500 wickets in the longest format and needs 10 more wickets to reach the milestone. Ahead of the series opener, former India skipper and head coach Ravi Shastri has fired a warning to England and said they must be wary of Ashwin and his tricks.
Speaking on the sidelines of the BCCI awards that took place in Hyderabad on Tuesday (January 23), Shastri talked about how big a threat Ashwin is going to be for The Three Lions.
Shastri, while making a joke on Ashwin’s new haircut said, “Ashwin just mentioned, I am going to get up and do better. Now that he has had this haircut and his brains are free, with the air going through, now can you imagine what all he is thinking? There could be a ‘Teesra’, there could be a ‘Chautha’. England will find out very soon, in the next couple of months.”
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Ashwin boasts an impeccable record in Tests against England. In 19 Tests, the 37-year-old has picked up 88 wickets.
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