‘He’s willing to bowl ugly to be effective’: Marnus Labuschagne says playing R Ashwin is like a game of chess
With all four tracks in the series expected to offer a lot of assance to spinners, Ashwin is expected to be the man to watch out for. The Australians have been particularly wary of the Ashwin threat, made evident them requesting Mahesh Pithiya, whose bowling is very similar to Ashwin’s, to bowl to them in the nets ahead of the first Test.
“That’s what I like about Ashwin. His thoughts about the game, his thinking, the way he manufactures overs, the way he tries to get you out in a certain area. But also the way he might not go to that area early. So, he might be attacking you on the inside-edge for a while and then he’ll bowl that one which he undercuts and slides away and get you caught first slip. He’ll keep mixing it up, where most other bowlers will just try and bowl their best ball. And if you put them under pressure and combat that best ball, they might go around the wicket. And that’s their only other option, try and shut you down and shut the scoreboard down and work you over,” Labuschagne told Cricbuzz in an interview.
He went on to explain how Ashwin’s willingness to “bowl ugly” made him different from other spinners.
“With Ashwin, it’s more a chess game. He’s willing to bowl ugly, which very few other spin bowlers like to do. He’s willing to bowl ugly to be effective. You saw that in Australia where he just bowled as we could call it in Australia, ‘negative’ lines but it’s great cricket. You are making the batters not be able to score. You’re tying them down. And then what he does great is then he attacks your outside-edge off the pressure that he’s built there. But it’s great,” the batter added.
The 28-year-old went on to say that playing against Ashwin in Australia last time around had made him a better player.
“The ultimate chess game of this series is going to be how do you manipulate where you want the field and where Ravindra Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar Patel want the field. And the team that wins that battle is going to evidently win the series,” he added.
