The Three Lions have had a dismal start to the Ashes series with three defeats in a row.
The ongoing Ashes series has been nothing close to expected for the Three Lions. At the epicentre of it all has been England skipper Ben Stokes. The 34-year-old has been regarded as one of the most fierce characters, especially for the fight that he has shown in the series. However, former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has laid emphasis on a technical flaw that has been pulling Stokes back.
In his recent YouTube video, Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about how Ben Stokes has been playing the wrong way against spinners throughout the series. The English skipper was dismissed by Nathan Lyon in the second innings of the third Test at Adelaide. The delivery was a ripper which left the English skipper bamboozled. However, as per Ashwin, Stokes’ playing style has a lot to do with his dismissal.
The former Indian off-spinner has got the better of Ben Stokes 13 times throughout his career. Other than being a great bowler, Ashwin is now showcasing his analytical side of the game. His way to interpret the game is being lauded by a lot of experts. That being said, a lot of England’s problems have stemmed from their inability to latch on to the big moments of the game.
“Ben Stokes has been getting out to off-spinners as long as I have bowled and watched. Is this question being asked. He is a fabulous player with the right attitude, but you cannot be playing spin the way you play fast bowling”, said Ashwin on his channel.
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A huge chunk of playing spin well, requires a batter to get to the pitch of the ball in order to smother the spin. It would be extremely difficult for a batter to play spin by simply relying on the bounce of the ball – a technique which is used against fast bowlers. Spin bowling, however, presents a different challenge as opposed to being in the firing line of speedsters.
That being said, a lot of non-Asian batters are currently resorting to the sweep and reverse sweep to counter spin – something that Ashwin thinks needs to be though through again. He went on further to state that this mentality stems from a flawed defensive technique and not trusting one’s defence, and can lead to certain types of dismissals.
“I am seeing many western players like Ben Stokes, Ben Duckett and Aiden Markram sweeping or reverse sweeping because their defensive technique against spin is not right. Th moment you commit to the sweep, you are picking the line of the ball early, instead of reading what the ball is doing”, said Ashwin on his YouTube podcast.
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