India’s ace spinner R Ashwin is finally fit and will be playing the first test against South Africa. India’s Team Director Ravi Shastri gave a statement to the press saying that the spinner is “absolutely fine” and will be playing in the test series.
Ashwin had suffered a side strain in the first ODI which saw him ruled out of the ODI series where India suffered a grueling loss to the Proteas who literally shambled the Indian bowling attack who felt pretty much handicapped without Ashwin. His absence was felt harshly when India went down 2-3 in the series against the de Villiers led side who in the last ODI completely made a joke of the Indian bowling lineup giving India a post 400 total to chase which of course they failed to do so.
Shastri was quoted saying, “Ashwin is bowling magnificently. He is absolutely fine”.
Ashwin has been training hard along with the team and he seems to have completely recovered from the side strain he got at Kanpur. There does not seem to be any discomfort at all. Along with the nets, he has been participating in the football game that the team plays for warming the players up. The team is currently training at the PCA stadium in Punjab where they are going to take on South Africa in a 4 test series.
The 29 year old spinner who is currently India’s bowling spearhead has been topping the charts by grabbing 20 wickets against Sri Lanka in the last test series and is said to be India’s main weapon against South Africa who will be led by Hashim Amla. The South Africans are wary of Ashwin and consider him to be the biggest threat for them. They have had their moments of weakness against him and Ashwin at home has always been impressive which the visitors are well informed about.
Some of the Proteas batsmen have voiced their opinion that Ashwin is going to be a real threat to them in India and they are formulating a plan to counter him, but India’s Team Director Ravi Shastri has warned them against taking the other Indian bowlers lightly. Even though a lot depends on Ashwin, India does have quality swing bowlers as well as other quality spinners in their ranks.
The team selectors have the option of leg spinner Amit Mishra and left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja available for selection as well, both being quality spinners. It will be interesting to see how it pans out with the wicket if it helps spinners or not. Do follow the match starting 5th November, 2015.
rounak