Ravichandran Ashwin praised Steve Smith’s captaincy within the third ODI between India and Australia on Friday. The veteran spinner credited Smith for eliminating Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya which modified the momentum of the guests.
Both Kohli and Pandya had been attempting to go inside-out towards Ashton Agar however the nature of the pitch was not permitting them to hit the road. Ashwin mentioned that Smith seen him and requested Agar to bowl outdoors off stump in order that Kohli and Pandya would go after him.
“Let me highlight Steve Smith’s captaincy here. The pitch held a bit when Adam Zampa and Ashton were bowling. Not all balls turned, some even caught and went straight. Virat and Hardik both tried to hit it over extra cover and the ball fell just short of the long off fielder. At that point, I saw Steve Smith constantly telling Ashton Agar from first slip, ‘Keep bowling it out’. He was repeating it,” Ashwin mentioned in his YouTube channel.
“Because once they see the road, they’ll attempt to go for further cowl and if the ball holds its line and goes straight, it is going to go straight to long-off. He pressured David Warner to come back in a bit from long-off. Done and arrange the entire out.
The transfer quickly paid dividends as Kohli edged out an agar supply to David Warner which went a great distance in swinging the match in Australia’s favour. The Australian crew would finally win the match and the sequence 1–2.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
