Former Australia player Ian Chappell has said that veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is better than Australia spinner Nathan Lyon as a bowler. He also referred to him as one of the best Test bowlers playing right now as well.
However, his comments came after former India player Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that he doesn’t accept Ashwin as an all-time great as he hasn’t that great in SENA countries and the recent successes of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as well. Meanwhile, Chappell cited the example of the West Indies pacer Joel Garner’s great contributions when bowling along with some of the greatest bowlers in world cricket.
“I would like to make a couple of points there — if you look at Joel Garner, I mean how many five-wicket hauls Joel Garner has? Not many, when you consider how good he was and his record. And why, because he was performing with three other very, very fine players,” Ian Chappell pointed out as Manjrekar listened.
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“And I think, particularly of late, I find that the Indian attack has been so strong that the wickets are being shared around more. And the other point I would make is because of Ashwin’s reputation I think the England players probably concentrated more on keeping Ashwin out and with Axar Patel, well, let’s be blunt about it, they didn’t have a bloody clue,” Chappell further added.
However, Ian Chappell also picked Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Kagiso Rabada among the top-five best bowlers in recent times with Pat Cummins topping the chart as well. He also claimed that Ishant Sharma has impressed him more with his record since 2018. Notably, he picked up 77 wickets in 22 Tests since 2018 as well.
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“I think Ashwin is a better bowler than Nathan Lyon. Have a look at Nathan Lyon’s strike rate, you are in the 70s and I am going back to 2018. Nathan Lyon, to me, I think runs get scored through the onside when he is bowling to the right-handers and that really just shouldn’t happen. Yes, he is a fine bowler but I think Ashwin is a better bowler. Ishant’s record in the last I think I went back to the start of 2018 and looking at some stats and his record is extremely good,” Ian Chappell concluded.
