India vs England: Ashwin backs Kuldeep to shine at right time
Ravichandran Ashwin, who scalped yet another fifer on a rank turner, has thrown his weight behind Kuldeep Yadav as he stated that the left-arm unorthodox bowler will have his time under the sun even though he had to contain with the “third spinner” role in Chennai.
Kuldeep Yadav played a Test match after two years but to his misfortune, he was introduced pretty late into the attack. As a matter of fact, the wrist-spinner bowled only six overs with Ashwin and Axar sharing major workloads to pick seven wickets between each other.
Answering to a question from CricXstay during the virtual press conference, the talismanic off-spinner stated that he will take time before he gets his turn. On his defense, Ashwin further added that Kuldeep bowled really well in the limited time he got.
“Look sometimes, we just play the game and we don’t see how you guys are seeing the game. Anyone who has played the game will understand that there are five bowlers and he’s the third spinner. It will take time before he gets his turn.
“This is how the game goes, this is pretty much how it happens. I think it is more about the perception of what people want to see. I thought he bowled really well and I think you will see an increasing role for him,” Ashwin said.
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Axar Patel picked very important wickets, claims Ashwin
Even though Axar made his limited-overs debut for India back in 2014, he played his first Test in Chennai. He had made a career of bowling with white-balls, with only 39 first-class games in the last decade. However, Ashwin stated that with Axar, like Washington Sundar, it was majorly a perception built from the outside.
“Axar Patel is one of those players who has been playing first-class cricket for a while now. He has had his share of good performances. Like I mentioned before about Washi, we see them in the limited-overs format and build our own perception.
“So with respect to that, getting Joe Root in his first Test must be a really good thing for him, a very important wicket in terms of the game. And Moeen Ali too, it was crucial for us to get that wicket,” Ashwin added.