Former Indian selector Saba Karim gave credit to India’s spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel for their recent success in the first two Test matches against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series.
India took a 2-0 lead in the four-match series after winning the second Test by six wickets at Delhi. The spin trio of Ashwin, Patel, and Jadeja have been right on the money and they have breathed down the neck of the opposition’s batters.
While Jadeja and Ashwin have collectively picked 31 wickets in two Test matches of the series, Patel has scored a total of 158 runs in two innings, the second-most in the series.
Jadeja has made a prolific return to International cricket, taking 17 wickets in two matches and scoring 96 runs. Furthermore, Ashwin has scalped 14 wickets while he has scored 60 runs.
Not only the dangerous trio have given sleepless nights to the Australian batters but also they have contributed with the bat while batting down the order. Patel and Ashwin added 114 runs for the eighth-wicket stand after India found themselves under the cosh at 139-7 in first innings in Delhi.
Saba Karim said on India News Sports, “India are the best because we have three such spin bowling all-rounders. These three are very useful with the bat, especially in subcontinent conditions. Axar Patel batted very sensibly and scored crucial runs.”
On the other hand, Karim feels Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to lead from the front. Cummins has taken only three wickets in two Test matches at an average of 39.67 and decided not to bowl in the second essay in Delhi.
“Pat Cummins is a wonderful bowling all-rounder,” the 55-year-old added. “It was expected that he will bowl a lot of cutters in these Indian conditions and set fields to plan dismissals, similar to what Glenn McGrath and James Anderson have done in the past. However, that kind of attitude and planning has been missing. Furthermore, he has not shown enough fight with the bat. He hasn’t been able to lead from the front.”
The third Test match will be played in Indore from March 1.
