3 batters who have been Ravichandran Ashwin's bunnies in Test cricket
Senior Team India bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin took a five-wicket haul in India's resounding win over Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test in Nagpur.
After leaking a massive 223-run first-innings lead, Australia started their second innings in the second session on Day 3. Unfortunately, for them, they were skittled out in the entire session, courtesy of a terrific bowling performance by the Indian spinners.
Ashwin wanted to play but the opponents didn’t show up 🐐🔥
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Ashwin, in particular, did the bulk of the damage as he picked up the wickets of Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, and Alex Carey.
Nagpur's third-day surface proved to be too demanding for the Aussie batters, as Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who also took a couple of wickets, rattled them inside just 91 runs after 32.3 overs.
With his terrific bowling performance, Ashwin bagged his 31st Test fifer, which is now the joint-most with Anil Kumble at home for India.
Since his Test debut in 2011, Ashwin has been one of the best bowlers in red-ball cricket. Over the years, he has made several batters dance to his tunes and has also made them his bunny. A bunny in cricket means a batter who frequently loses his wicket to a particular bowler.
On that note, let's take a look at the top three batters who have been Ravichandran Ashwin's bunnies in Test cricket.
#1 David Warner - 11 times
After being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday (February 11), David Warner became the batter with the joint-most dismissals off the Indian off-spinner in Test cricket.
Warner smashed Ashwin for two back-to-back boundaries in the 14th over today. However, on the very next ball, the Chennai-born tweaker pitched the ball up, which Warner failed to hit with the bat and was trapped in front of the stumps.
Ravi Ashwin has now dismissed David Warner 11 times in Test cricket out of their 19 matches played against each other.
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Interestingly, it was the 11th instance of Ashwin getting the better of Warner in Tests. So far, in head-to-head battles, the two have come up against each other 19 times in Test cricket, with Warner getting dismissed 11 times, despite scoring 192 runs.
Only Stuart Broad (14) has dismissed Warner more times than Ashwin in Tests.
#2 Ben Stokes - 11 times
England Test skipper Ben Stokes has also been Ravichandran Ashwin's victim 11 times in his red-ball career.
Stokes has often been bowled or has been dismissed LBW off Ashwin's bowling. During England's tour of India in 2021, Ashwin got the southpaw out four times in as many matches, taking his tally against him to 11 scalps across 23 innings.
In a total of 569 balls Ashwin has bowled to Stokes, the batter has amassed 214 runs at a poor average of 19.45.
#3 Alastair Cook - 9 times
Another left-hander on the list, Alastair Cook is the batter with the third-most dismissals off Ashwin's bowling in Test cricket. The former England skipper was outdone by Ashwin nine times during his illustrious Test career.
Although Cook was an adept player of spin, it is Ashwin's skill that has enabled him to send so many good batters reeling.
Ravi Ashwin vs Alastair Cook
STAT : Ashwin dismissed cook 9 times in test cricket.
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Unlike Warner and Stokes, though, Cook's numbers against Ashwin aren't shockers. In fact, the two always used to put up a great fight whenever they came up against each other.
In the 21 innings where Ashwin bowled to Cook, the English legend mustered 330 runs at an average of well over 36.