I do think he's struggled with the conditions a bit in England. Playing the moving ball has never been his strength and I think that's been shown a bit here. India was an aberration though; there's nothing about his game in the slightest that suggests he shouldn't do well in the subcontinent.
He did alright, tbf. Hundred and a 90, and then had a bad Test. I think there it really was a mental thing.
The problem Australian (and English) batsmen have against spin is the lack of pace and bounce they face in Asia rather than the fact it's spin.
The problem SC batsmen have against pace is the pace and bounce they face in Aus/SA rather than the fact that its pace.
Yep, always found Clarke to be overrated against spin, he's not been someone I've ever worried about whenever he toured India. His plan is basically to jog down the wicket every few deliveries which doesn't automatically qualify him as a great player of spin bowling. I mean he's good, but not exceptional by any means.
No need to roll your eyes, it's actually trueThe problem SC batsmen have against pace is the pace and bounce they face in Aus/SA rather than the fact that its pace.
The same batsmen utterly belt the pacers at home
Yeah there's something in this. When India served up fizzing, spinning wickets in 2012, Panesar and Swann comprehensively outbowled Aswin and Ojha.
Nah they just bowled **** - most Indian spinners of previous generations would have dominated on that pitch. That's just an anomaly. Swann and Panesar bowled awesome on that Mumbai pitch. But Harbhajan and Kumble would have done so as well. Ashwin's inability to do anything on that was because he bowled absolute tripe.
Yeah, can't stress this enough, It's also true re:Ashwin's bowling away from home. The main problem isn't that his bowling is structurally constructed to average 500 away from home, it's just that he has bowled complete filth in the few away opportunities he has had.
Basically just Ashwin bowling rubbish and Pietersen and cook playing godlike knocks. Exactly the same(or opposite) thing happened on that lord's greentop where we won. If Anderson and Broad had bowled even decently, we'd have been bowled out for 150 or less. They bowled **** and Rahane made a great ton.
I felt there were signs of him improving at the end of the England tour. I've always, always felt you need to give bowlers like Ashwin a good number of chances and eventually he will become a good bowler overseas. Look at how long it took Kumble... used to be useless overseas but slowly became a good bowler even overseas.
Imagine Anderson and Broad's spells at OT on the Lord's pitch. India would have been lucky to pass 50.
While I agree with this, I think India has to stop picking Ashwin for ODIs first. His Test bowling is going the way Harbhajan's did - he isn't using his stock ball well, is relying too much on his subtle variations, is bowling flattish, and doesn't have enough patience. He can get away with it on spinning tracks at home against batsmen weak against spin, but is struggling on less responsive decks overseas.
Ya it's always the combination of bowling and condition/pitch that kill them rather than one alone.
