‘Ashwin Is the Professor Of Test Cricket’- Fans react as R Ashwin picks five wickets in Australia’s’ 2nd innings

India won the first Test against Australia on Day 3 by an innings and 132 runs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday, February 11. Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed a five-wicket haul, while Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami took two wickets as India bundled out the visitors for 91 in their second innings of the opening Test.

It was Ashwin’s 31st fifer for India in the longest format of the game. Picking his 31st five-wicket haul, Ashwin equaled India legend Anil Kumble’s spectacular Test record and went past Harbhajan Singh’s elusive tally.

Earlier, Australia captain won the toss and opted to bat first on the opening day. The guests were bundled out for 177, thanks to Jadeja’s five-wicket haul. Thanks to captain Rohit Sharma’s 120 and Axar Patel’s 84, India registered 400 and helped the side take a first innings lead of 223 runs on Day 3.

Shami also contributed with 37 while Jadeja was sent off for 70. Todd Murphy had a dream debut as he picked seven wickets but he somewhat lacked an equally good support from the other Australian bowlers.

Australia failed to score big in their second innings as well as they lost their key wickets too early. The tourists were brutally damaged by the Indian spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja in both their innings. Ashwin’s first breakthrough was the dismissal of Aussie opener Usman Khawaja.

After that, he accounted for the wickets of David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey to complete a five-wicket hault. Notably, all four batters were dismissed via leg-before wicket (LBW).

Jadeja picked wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and captain Cummins while Shami dismissed Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland. Meanwhile, Axar Patel picked his first wicket in the opening Test with the dismissal of Todd Murphy.

Ashwin’s five-wicket haul remains the seventh-most in the history of Test cricket and second-highest after England’s James Anderson (32) among active cricketers. Out of his 31 five-wicket hauls, 25 came on home soil. The new milestone also took his tally of wickets at home to 320, which is one more than Australia legend Shane Warne, and fifth-best, overall.

Here is the fans reactions after Ashwin claim five-wicket haul: