Article
R Ashwin and Dale Benkenstein Heaps Praise For Indian Wristies
By CricShots - Feb 5, 2018 6:32 am
Views 62

India’s spin-twins R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja might have been replaced from the ODI team due to the consistent performances of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, but that did not stop Ashwin from praising the two wristies after they spun a web over the Proteas batsmen in the second ODI at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday.

ashwin
R Ashwin and R Jadeja

Taking to Twitter, Ashwin wrote: “India has been amazing in both the ODI s and the wristies have been amazing, great effort to go 2-0 up and fingers crossed for 6-0. Well done imVkohli, @yuzi_chahal and @imkuldeep18 ?????#INDvSA.”

South African batting coach Dale Benkenstein also acknowledged the fact that their batsmen have been unable to read Indian wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav during the ongoing ODI series as it is taking time to adapt to their change-ups.

Also read: South Africa's new batting consultant

India took a 2-0 lead in the series as they outplayed the hosts on Sunday, as Chahal took a career-best 5 for 22 and bowled out South Africa for the lowest total on home soil. Talking about the same, Benkenstein said, “The tough thing is you are playing against two wrist spinners, and not a lot of players have played against. It does take time to get used to their change-ups and their variations.”

He further added, “Their spinners are very good, obviously. Earlier, Anil Kumble was the one who could really spin the ball away from the bat. He bowled pretty quick and the ball would come on to the bat. But these guys (Chahal and Yadav) are a lot slower. We’ve had a good look at them in the two games (so far) and I’m sure our performances will improve as the series goes on.”

The Proteas have got two wrist spinners to create pressure on the Indian batsmen but comfort facing them won’t happen overnight. Dale said, “The guys were in the nets and we’ve got two wrist spinners, so they were practicing against them. But things don’t turn around overnight. So, there isn’t much time to practice but I don’t think today we got out to the spinners bowling us out. I think we had some soft dismissals there.”

Also read: Ashwin to play in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Benkenstein said that the change of pace of the Indian spinners made all the difference. He said, “The challenge lies in the fact that they bowl very slow. Our spinners bowl very fast. Even on domestic wickets, we bowl pretty quick and it’s so much easier to get runs (when that’s the case). To be fair, in South Africa we don’t get a lot of spin. So, this is obviously an issue.”

The South African coach concluded by praising Chahal and Kuldeep further, he said, “I’m actually pretty amazed by how slow they can actually bowl. And obviously, if you’re a wrist spinner and you bowl slow, then it turns on any surface. But I think because of the slowness, there are also scoring opportunities. I would rather that we look at that than just plodding around.”