 "'He tries to find ways to get you out': Joe Root explains differences between R Ashwin and Nathan Lyon's bowling")
Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon are in-form spinners for India and Australia respectively, and while it would be difficult to compare two of the best spinners of this generation, England batter Joe Root has explained the difference between the duo. Root has played more than enough international cricket to understand the two spinners, and one of the most interesting points he noted was that while Ashwin is good at dragging the batter across the crease, whereas Lyon aims to get to the top of the ball during the early stages of a Test match.
“I’d say, Ashwin is making sure that you don’t play the previous ball. He is very good at trying to drag you across the crease and get your head to one side of it and beat both edges quite frequently", Root said while speaking on the Sky Sports cricket podcast.
“With Lyon it is all about, I think, especially in the first half of the Test match to get really over the top of the ball, get bounce bowl in between you like the knee roll and hit and try to bring short leg and leg slip into the game as much as he can and then just slowly, get slower with his pace and drift wider into that. There’s that footmarks, um, Mitchell Starc has so kindly done for him for such a long period of time,” explained Root.
Also read: How Ravichandran Ashwin has kept evolving over the years?
Ashwin, who recently became only the second bowler to take 500 Test wickets recently, has so far picked up 17 wickets from four Tests against England, including a five-fer in Ranchi. Root said that instead of wearing the batter down, Ashwin is constantly trying to get the batter out. “Whereas Ashwin is probably slightly trying to find ways of getting you out rather than trying to wear you down, over long periods of time. That’s how I’ve always tried to approach them. Be trying, trying to be clear, right, because that’s how they’re generally gonna operate,” added the 30-year-old.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia clinched the five-match Test series with a five-wicket win in the fourth Test in Ranchi. That win helped them take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series, with the fifth and final Test scheduled to start in Dharamsala from 7 March.
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