"Ravichandran Ashwin's variations were something I hadn't experienced before" - Will Pucovski
Australian young gun Will Pucovski has singled out Ravichandran Ashwin as the most unique bowler in the Indian line-up. The 22-year-old commended all the opponent bowlers but said Ashwin's variations were a unique and challenging experience for him.
Will Pucvoski became the youngest in his country to score a half-century on debut. The batsman impressed one and all with his simple technique and quiet resolve. In his 110-ball knock, he rode his luck a couple of times but scored crucial 62 runs for his team.
Interacting in a press conference, Will Pucovski hailed the Indian bowlers, saying:
"They (Indian bowlers) are all very good. Playing your first game, I would say Ashwin, probably, is the one who is the most unique in a way. Obviously (Jasprit) Bumrah has his unique action but Ashwin just with his different variations and how he uses the same to sort of bowl. But yes his little, different variations were something that I hadn't really experienced before, so that was quite challenging."
With 10 wickets in 2 games, Ashwin has been India's most successful bowler in the series. However, the off-spinner remained wicketless on the first day in Sydney.
He almost had Will Pucovski caught behind, but Rishabh Pant dropped a rather easy catch to give the batsman a second life.
"I knew India would come hard with bouncers:" Will Pucovski
Will Pucovski was dropped once more in the innings. This time, a Mohammed Siraj bouncer had kissed his glove to rise in the air, only for Pant to fluff the catch again.
Bouncers seemed to be the only chink in the batsman's armor. He was often caught in awkward positions while playing the pull shot and even top-edged a couple of hooks.
However, Will Pucovski said he had expected the Indians to ploy the bumpers and attributed his mistakes to the early jitters of playing his maiden innings. He explained:
"I've been bounced non-stop in all cricket I've played really, just with my history of concussion. It's part of it, to be honest. I knew India would come at me pretty hard with it. I felt like I handled it well at times and probably went out of my bubble at other times. But a lot of that comes down to the excitement of your first game and just making sure you get that first one out of the way then hopefully roll on and improve from my experience today."
Can Will Pucovski remain consistent and solve the opening conundrum for the Australians? Well, it's too early to tell. What do you think?