Ashwin followed his six wickets in the first Test by picking up eight more in the second match against New Zealand.
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Ravichandran Ashwin has been one of the standout bowlers for India in the recent Test series against New Zealand. He played a major role in helping the home side win the two-match Test series 1-0. After picking up six wickets in the first Test, the spinner picked up eight more in the second match. With 14 wickets to his name, he was almost unplayable by the visitors. Former pacer Zaheer Khan was one among the many who praised the veteran spinner for his standout bowling performances. On the back of drawing the first Test, a win in the second by a huge margin of 372 runs would have been a big boost for the Indian cricket team.
The first Test match between India and New Zealand witnessed a climatic finish, highlighted by the heroics of two debutants – Shreyas Iyer scoring a century and a half-century and New Zealander Rachin Ravindra playing a resilient knock to ensure his team got over the line on the last day at Kanpur. But the Wankhede stadium proved to be the ground showcasing India’s complete dominance as they clinched the victory by 372 runs. Speaking to the users of BalleBaazi.com, Zaheer Khan, the brand ambassador of the fantasy sports vertical of Baazi Games, laid down his thoughts about the match in a candid discussion.
CHAMPIONS ??
This is #TeamIndia‘s 14th consecutive Test series win at home.#INDvNZ @Paytm pic.twitter.com/FtKIKVCzt8
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2021
Sharing his key takeaways from the match, Zaheer said, “It was great to see a dominating victory at home, much like the good old days. On the last day of the test match, with the way the pitch was behaving, it was just a matter of time. Jayant Yadav really impressed me the way he came back with the ball after an ordinary 1st innings. He surely adds to the template of taking 5 bowlers into the game, especially when there are more left-handers in the opposition. Moreover, it’s the flow of the new talented players which keeps adding value to the Indian squad.”
On Ashwin’s consistency, and whether he will surpass Anil Kumble or not, Zaheer commented, “Ashwin has created a league of his own and he is also in the white ball team because of which he is in a great space. Every time he has the ball in his hand, you know he will pull off some trick and make the batsman come on the front foot if he’s playing backfoot and vice-versa. He’s got the time to achieve the feat and with this consistency, it would be appropriate that he becomes the kind of bowler who can perhaps surpass the great Anil Kumble.”
The top performers of Zaheer Khan, which he would have not missed in selecting for his team on BalleBaazi.com, were Mayank Agarwal, Mohd. Siraj and Ajaz Patel. Speaking on Agarwal’s performance, he said, “I think Mayank Agarwal is my first choice because he batted at a time when the wicket was doing a bit and his innings in the 1st half of the test took the game too far from New Zealand’s grasp.”
Zaheer also spoke about Mohd. Siraj’s spell and the spin trio’s performance. He added, “Another game-changing spell was by Siraj when he took 3 early wickets in his 1st spell. On a pitch that is assisting only spinners, pulling off a magical wicket like that of Ross Taylor was amazing. It was great to see Siraj playing to his strengths and attacking the 3 wickets in view. Then, it was our spinners trio- that not only added depth to our batting but the way they washed out the tail was great. Ashwin, Axar and Jayant were spot on.”
The former pacer further commended the feat achieved by Ajaz Patel, who picked up 14 wickets in the Mumbai Test, including all ten wickets in the first innings. He explained: “It’s just the stuff of dreams. You don’t see that kind of performance sometimes in a lifetime, and it was great to see how he bowled long spells endlessly. Yes, he was tiring a bit but every time he took a wicket, you could see his body language change and he came back with a string of 1 or 2 more wickets. It was a pleasure to witness the way he bowled and took 10 wickets. In the 2nd innings too, he was causing trouble and got 4 good wickets.”
Finally, the discussion closed with Zaheer analyzing the shortcomings of the New Zealand team in the match. He explained, “I think they were just a bit too dependent on the bowling and on Ajaz Patel. Kyle Jamieson did have an off day but even when you look at Southee, there was not much he could produce as far as wickets were concerned. The batting was pretty much ordinary throughout the game except for Daryl Mitchell and Will Young and maybe just a bit the way Nicholls was batting. The intent was there but again against the spinners the Kiwis looked clueless.”
