‘HOW?’ Ravichandran Ashwin BAFFLED By India’s Massive TACTICAL BLUNDER On Day 3

On November 16 (Sunday), South Africa scripted a famous 30-run win in Kolkata to register their first Test win in India in 15 years, but when day three began, it was the hosts who were in firm control. South Africa began the day 93/7, just 63 ahead, and at this point, a quick win was on the cards for the home team. However, the Proteas would go on to add 60 more runs in the morning, something that ended up proving decisive in the end.

Temba Bavuma and Corbin Bosch added 44 for the eighth wicket, but it wasn’t until their partnership was already 29 that Jasprit Bumrah was introduced into the attack. And staggeringly enough, Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, India’s two best bowlers in the Test, didn’t bowl to the pair in tandem at all. Eventually, it was Bumrah who broke the partnership in his very third over of the spell.

Reviewing the game, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin expressed bafflement at India’s bowling tactics on the morning of day three. 

“If you look at all the innings, the fast bowlers took a lot of wickets. Personally I feel India missed a huge trick on day three morning by not starting with Bumrah and Jadeja,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“It's been less discussed but they missed a huge trick. It's impossible to play a bowler like Bumrah on a surface like this. In the fourth innings, Jansen bowled a ball to Rahul, and that was unplayable. The fast bowlers had a huge say, because there was a lot of variable bounce and seam movement off a good length.”

In the same video, replying to a user’s question, Ashwin expressed how the days of Indian batters being ‘good players of spin’ are long-gone.

“The fact that our batters have been struggling against spin is not something new, it's old news. We've not played spin well for a while now. That old adagio that 'Indians are very good players of spin' has disappeared. Actually we're much better players of fast bowling right now.”

The former India spinner further pointed out the problem that lies in the management ‘demanding’ turners in every part of the country. After the game, head coach Gautam Gambhir commented that India, in fact, got the exact pitch that ‘they wanted’.

“Turn and bounce with good speed is an ideal turning track, and that's what you see in Sri Lanka. But in India, you can't produce turning tracks in all parts of the country. If you try to produce, you will get something like what you got in Kolkata,” Ashwin said.