Ganguly wants Ashwin to be boring

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has questioned Ravi Ashwin’s strategy in the fourth Test against England. The spinner was largely unproductive in the fourth Test, where the track assisted the spinners with its rough patches.

In contrast, Moeen Ali used the roughs well and squeezed out 9 wickets in the Test by simple and plain off-spin bowling. Ashwin, meanwhile, not only bowled a lot quicker through the air than Ali but also tried a lot of variations during his spell, something that irked the former India captain.

According to Ganguly, captain Virat Kohli should talk to Ashwin about the latter’s impatience while also adding that the Indian spinner is twice the bowler than Ali could ever be.

“Virat Kohli will have to talk to Ashwin about why he looks so impatient. He is bowling six different deliveries in an over. Ability-wise Moeen Ali is not better than Ashwin. Rather Ashwin is twice as good as Ali as a spinner,” Ganguly told India TV.

He then added that winning Test matches sometimes requires boring bowling from the spinners.

“But Ali keeps his bowling simple. On the other hand, Ashwin keeps experimenting with the doosra, wrong’un and leg-spin rather than utilising the rough. Sometimes in Test cricket, you have to become boring to win matches.”

Ganguly was the captain of the Indian cricket team that made itself a force to be reckoned with away from home. The last time the Men in Blue won a Test series in England was with the Prince of Calcutta in the team led by Rahul Dravid, so the man knows what he is talking about.