Australia dominated the first two days of the fourth and final Test of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 by scoring mammoth 480 runs and pushing the Indian side on the back foot. Usman Khawaja (180) and Cameron Green (114) were the highest run-getters for the Aussies in their first innings.
However, when it almost felt impossible to restrict the visitors, Ravichandran Ashwin stepped in and picked up a 6-fer for India, helping them sail out from the storm. Ashwin bowled 47.2 overs at an economy of 1.90 and scalped the crucial wicket of Green. The others wicket by the star off-spinner included Travis Head (32), Alex Carey (0), Mitchell Starc (6), Nathan Lyon (34) and Todd Murphy (41).
It was Ashwin’s overall 32nd five-wicket haul in Test cricket and 26th at home. In the process, he went past the legendary Anil Kumble. The Tamil Nadu cricketer also surpassed Kumble in terms of most wickets for India in the BGT. Notably, Ashwin reached the count of 113 in Ahmedabad, while the 52-year-old India veteran has 111 dismissals against Aussies in the BGT.
Congratulating Ashwin on his achievement and sensational bowling performance, Kumble took to Twitter and wrote: “Well Bowled @ashwinravi99 Class!”
Well Bowled @ashwinravi99 Class ! 👏👍🏽
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) March 10, 2023
Apart from Kumble, former India captain Sourav Ganguly also lauded the India off-spinner and wrote, “Great to see Ashwin bowl so well on a good pitch .. class will always show .. hopefully this will be a good test match .. good opportunity for Indian batsman after some tuff wickets to bat on, in this series .. @bcci @ashwinravi99”
Great to see ashwin bowl so well on a good pitch .. class will always show .. hopefully this will be a good test match .. good opportunity for indian batsman after some tuff wickets to bat on ,in this series .. @bcci @ashwinravi99
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) March 10, 2023
Talking about the match, India is currently in a great hold of the situation as they, with the help of Shubman Gill’s half-century, crossed the 150 mark and are currently just one wicket down in 53 overs. The first dismissal for Australia came in the form of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who departed after scoring a convincing 35.
