Usman Khawaja waxes lyrical on veteran India star as the build-up to the India-Australia series gathers steam.
Usman Khawaja praised India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, saying that the 37-year-old is very clever and always has a strategy. Australia will play India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the coming days. When playing Australia, Ashwin has incredible stats. He has taken 114 wickets at an economy rate of 2.70 in 22 Test matches and 42 innings against the Australians.
Ashwin amassed 39 wickets at an economy rate of 2.93 over his ten Test matches played in Australia. On November 22, the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar series between Australia and India will commence with the first Test being held in Perth.
India has taken back the lead in the series against Australia over time. India has won two of the previous four series it has played against Australia in Australia.
Khawaja praised Ashwin for consistently keeping one step ahead of the game in an interview with Star Sports. The Australian batsman went on to say that he respected the spinner’s “cricketing brain” from India.
“Ravi is a very good bowler. He is very strategic, he always has a plan. Always tries to figure it out. He is trying to get ahead of the game, one step ahead of the game, which I respect. I respect his cricketing brain. It’s always cool to play against, yeah I look forward to the challenge,” Khawaja said.
Ashwin made his Test debut in 2011 against the West Indies. Following that, he has 100 long-format matches and 189 innings, in which he has scalped 516 wickets at an economy rate of 2.81.