Ashwin bowling well this morning

[bharat297]

It's good to see him improve. He seems to be bowling with a lot more patience and slowing it down a lot more. Hopefully he can keep this going. P.S. Hope young Rahul does well this match.

[Gollum]

Really bowled splendidly. Hope he can keep it up and not lose focus.

[kubrickian]

Important thing is consistency. Bowled first 10 overs well, has to keep this going.

[Mindreader]

Thread for each opinion?

[Lord]

well?Smith has toyed with with him both matches.Only Marsh seems troubled a bit.Has been economical but no penetration at all

[jf1gp_1]

well?Smith has toyed with with him both matches.Only Marsh seems troubled a bit.Has been economical but no penetration at all

For penetration Dhoni has Ishant

[India-KXIP fan]

All bowlers did a good job today :two_thumbs_up:

[The Dark Horse]

All bowlers did a good job today :two_thumbs_up:

Except spearhead

[Austin 3:!6]

Wicketless on one of the slowest MCG tracks.

[ZeroBlack]

No penetration, does not look like getting a wicket.

[Insidious]

Wicketless on one of the slowest MCG tracks.

Wicketless???

[SELVAM]

He will never be a good bowler away from home. He feasted on WI&NZ&AUS batsmen who r poor players of spin bowling in indian turners to become fastest indian to took 100wickets.

[Cricketics]

Personally, I am not too excited. I have to be honest. Smith is dancing down the track 3 out of 6 deliverirs and going for singles. It is a test match and player shouldn't be coming down the track this many times and if he is that means there is some serious problem with the bowlet. He needs to fi.d a solution for him and put him out of his comfort zone. He did make the difference todayvin keeping Australian runrate low, but he didn't really look like taking wickets. It was like more of finishing the 90overs for the day.

[bharat297]

Wicketless on one of the slowest MCG tracks.

Slowest? The commentators were saying it was one of the quickest MCG tracks they have seen.

[bharat297]

Personally, I am not too excited. I have to be honest. Smith is dancing down the track 3 out of 6 deliverirs and going for singles. It is a test match and player shouldn't be coming down the track this many times and if he is that means there is some serious problem with the bowlet. He needs to fi.d a solution for him and put him out of his comfort zone. He did make the difference todayvin keeping Australian runrate low, but he didn't really look like taking wickets. It was like more of finishing the 90overs for the day.

Not many spinners take a lot of wickets on Day 1 at the MCG. Day 1 has historically been skewed to the batsmen (because of the consistent bounce) or swing bowlers (when it's a bit overcast). It's not an easy track on Day 1 for the spinners. I think all things considered he bowled quite well and much better than he has recently. The key areas I noticed were:

1. Revs on the ball. He looked to be really ripping the ball a lot more. In the past, he tried too many arm balls and carom balls and ended up bowling 6 different deliveries an over.
2. He bowled much slower and flighted the ball up there. I didn't mind seeing Smith coming down the wicket to hit him. It at least showed Ashwin was prepared to flight it up there.
3. Accuracy. He was a lot more consistent and patient with his lines.

I think he is still the best spinner we have at the moment (despite his horrible overseas record), but we have to give him a chance to improve. It was good to see him bowl in good areas more consistently today.

[Insidious]

Not many spinners take a lot of wickets on Day 1 at the MCG. Day 1 has historically been skewed to the batsmen (because of the consistent bounce) or swing bowlers (when it's a bit overcast). It's not an easy track on Day 1 for the spinners. I think all things considered he bowled quite well and much better than he has recently. The key areas I noticed were:

1. Revs on the ball. He looked to be really ripping the ball a lot more. In the past, he tried too many arm balls and carom balls and ended up bowling 6 different deliveries an over.
2. He bowled much slower and flighted the ball up there. I didn't mind seeing Smith coming down the wicket to hit him. It at least showed Ashwin was prepared to flight it up there.
3. Accuracy. He was a lot more consistent and patient with his lines.

I think he is still the best spinner we have at the moment (despite his horrible overseas record), but we have to give him a chance to improve. It was good to see him bowl in good areas more consistently today.

+1 bowled quite well. should be persisted

[Cricketics]

Not many spinners take a lot of wickets on Day 1 at the MCG. Day 1 has historically been skewed to the batsmen (because of the consistent bounce) or swing bowlers (when it's a bit overcast). It's not an easy track on Day 1 for the spinners. I think all things considered he bowled quite well and much better than he has recently. The key areas I noticed were:

1. Revs on the ball. He looked to be really ripping the ball a lot more. In the past, he tried too many arm balls and carom balls and ended up bowling 6 different deliveries an over.
2. He bowled much slower and flighted the ball up there. I didn't mind seeing Smith coming down the wicket to hit him. It at least showed Ashwin was prepared to flight it up there.
3. Accuracy. He was a lot more consistent and patient with his lines.

I think he is still the best spinner we have at the moment (despite his horrible overseas record), but we have to give him a chance to improve. It was good to see him bowl in good areas more consistently today.

I agree.He definitely deserves more chance but just needs to apply and try some more. He hasn't reached that level like Ishant Sharma, where he is getting on nerves of fans a.d selectors. Ashwin

[mancalledsting]

It's good to see him improve. He seems to be bowling with a lot more patience and slowing it down a lot more. Hopefully he can keep this going. P.S. Hope young Rahul does well this match.

Slowing it down??? Every delivery was around 90kph- he was bowling fast and looking to contain

[Marut]

Not many spinners take a lot of wickets on Day 1 at the MCG. Day 1 has historically been skewed to the batsmen (because of the consistent bounce) or swing bowlers (when it's a bit overcast). It's not an easy track on Day 1 for the spinners. I think all things considered he bowled quite well and much better than he has recently. The key areas I noticed were:

1. Revs on the ball. He looked to be really ripping the ball a lot more. In the past, he tried too many arm balls and carom balls and ended up bowling 6 different deliveries an over.
2. He bowled much slower and flighted the ball up there. I didn't mind seeing Smith coming down the wicket to hit him. It at least showed Ashwin was prepared to flight it up there.
3. Accuracy. He was a lot more consistent and patient with his lines.

I think he is still the best spinner we have at the moment (despite his horrible overseas record), but we have to give him a chance to improve. It was good to see him bowl in good areas more consistently today.

+1. Ashwin has improved from the days of the SA/NZ tours. MCG isn't spinners wicket on day one. It is not a spinner's wicket in general - over the past twenty years Kumble has been one the most successful visiting spinner on this ground and Kumble averages 37 here. If you take out Kumble, no other visiting spinner has taken more than seven wickets (total wickets tally at this ground) on this ground since 1990. Home spinners like Warne, Lyon etc have a decent record here though.

[kosingh]

Not many spinners take a lot of wickets on Day 1 at the MCG. Day 1 has historically been skewed to the batsmen (because of the consistent bounce) or swing bowlers (when it's a bit overcast). It's not an easy track on Day 1 for the spinners. I think all things considered he bowled quite well and much better than he has recently. The key areas I noticed were:

1. Revs on the ball. He looked to be really ripping the ball a lot more. In the past, he tried too many arm balls and carom balls and ended up bowling 6 different deliveries an over.
2. He bowled much slower and flighted the ball up there. I didn't mind seeing Smith coming down the wicket to hit him. It at least showed Ashwin was prepared to flight it up there.
3. Accuracy. He was a lot more consistent and patient with his lines.

I think he is still the best spinner we have at the moment (despite his horrible overseas record), but we have to give him a chance to improve. It was good to see him bowl in good areas more consistently today.

He wasn't trying many variations, but I certainly didn't see him slow It down. Didn't see those revs you are talking about either. All he was bowling was straight harmless balls on an accurate line length. Essentially he was bowling Harbhajan type balls, except that he kept it on off instead of leg stump. As pointed out repeatedly in both the Star commentary box as well as the Channel 9 team, he wasn't even holding the seam in a manner that would help him put more revs on the ball. Aussies are not going to have much trouble with this kind of bowling, although he won't give away too many runs.