‘One of India’s finest new-ball bowlers’: Sanjay Manjrekar’s stunning tweet after seeing Ashwin bowl against England

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Virat Kohli introduced Ravichandran Ashwin into attack as early as the eighth over of the first Test against England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. As astonishing as it may sound, Kohli’s decision to throw the ball to his premier off-spinner so early on a Day 1 track, surprised very few. After all in was not the first time Ashwin was bowling with the new ball.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar summed it up in his tweet when he referred Ashwin as ‘one of India’s finest new-ball bowlers’.

“One of India’s finest new ball bowlers in action in the 8th over,” tweeted Manjrekar after seeing Ashwin mark his run-up.

To back Manjrekar’s tweet, here are some numbers. Ashwin has bowled in the first 10 overs of a Test match in 78 innings. He has bowled 248 overs in the first 10 overs of a Test match. And his record shows why he is one of Kohli’s preferred options even with the new ball.

Ashwin has picked up 35 wickets in the first 10 overs of a Test with the new ball at an impeccable average of 18.89.

The experienced off-spinner, who is playing at his home ground, did not get a wicket in the first 10 overs against England on Friday but he did give India their first breakthrough.

Ashwin broke the opening stand by dismissing Rory Burns for 33 who went for an adventurous reverse sweep after playing so well in the first hour.

England captain Joe Root found himself with a rebuilding job in his 100th test after the tourists squandered a steady start to be 67-2 at lunch.

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