Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma hit centuries on Day 2 of opening Test match (AFP Image)
After Ravichandran Ashwin’s fifer in the first innings against West Indies, Aakash Chopra reminded fans of his ‘Player of the series’ prediction
Ravichandran Ashwin rocked the West Indies batters with his fiery bowling spell as he claimed a fifer in the first innings of the opening Test of India’s tour of the Caribbean.
On his Youtube channel Aakash Chopra had predicted that Ashwin would be the Player of the Series and his fifer in the first innings sets him on course to do just that.
Chopra also praised Ashwin’s consistency for bowling in a single area something he believes most bowlers today do not do enough. Amongst the current crop of bowlers, he believes Ashwin, Jadeja and Nathan Lyon are the only ones who can do that.
“The sort of pitches we have in Dominica or the West Indies, before the series I had predicted that Ravichandran Ashwin will be Player of the Series and he is on track currently. If he continues like this, he will become that as well,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin came on as the first bowling change and picked up the wickets of Brathwaite and Chanderpaul to start the proceedings. He also picked the wicket of batter Alick Athanaze who was their only threat in the batting unit having scored 47 runs. He also cleaned up the tail-enders by picking two scalps of Alzarri Joseph and Jomel Warrican.
Chopra praised Ashwin’s ability to bowl the subtle variations where he experiments with flight, drift, angles and more, a change from his typical variation the ‘carrom ball.’
“India has dominated the Test match so far having dismissed the Caribbean batting line-up for a mere 150 runs. Ashwin’s fifer along with three scalps from Jadeja showed why India could have persisted with Ashwin in the WTC final,” Chopra added further.
The Indian batting stood strong as debutant Jaiswal and Rohit batted for the rest of the day.
He believes that the gap in terms of quality when comparing the West Indies and India is so much that it is not exciting to watch. The veteran talked about the possibility of introducing a tier based system where the lower-quality sides can play in a separate tier.
Chopra found it surprising that Shubman Gill was demoted to the No 3 spot upon his own request. He believed that batting gets easier as you go down the order and you should send your best batter at the No 4 position so they have enough of a chance to make partnerships with the top order and not carry the innings with the tailenders. But it paved the way for Jaiswal to take up the opening spot and being a left-hander will prove to be an additional advantage.