R Ashwin picked up three wickets in the fourth Test against England. (Source: Reuters)
Veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday blamed off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the 60-run defeat in the 4th Test against England in Southampton. Speaking to India Today, Harbhajan said that the 31-year old could not take wickets, while England’s Moeen Ali did, which sealed India’s fate. “There was so much help available on this wicket for the off-spinners. Just landing the ball at that particular rough patch would have fetched a lot of wickets. That is exactly what Moeen Ali did and got so many wickets,” he was quoted as saying by the news channel website.
“India lost the match where Moeen Ali bowled better than R Ashwin. For the first time, I saw England spinners bowling better than our spinners. Him (Ashwin) not being able to take wickets is the reason why we are 1-3 behind in the series,” Harbhajan added.
While Ali picked up 9 wickets in the Test, Ashwin returned with only 3. India’s defeat meant England taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series. On speaking about Ashwin’s groin injury prior to the start of the 4th Test, the right-armer bowler said that Ashwin was fit to play, then he should have performed better.
“I really don’t know how serious was Ashwin’s injury. If it was serious then the team management should have known it. And if he was really fit then he failed to bowl like it was expected of him,” he said.
“Moeen Ali was making a comeback in the England team and won the Man of the Match award. He is a very good bowler though does not rate himself so highly. He will always bowl better than the rest as his trajectory is very good. Indian team has not been able to find any solution to his bowling since 2014 when he performed exceptionally well against us at the same venue,” Harbhajan added.
India and England will play the fifth and final Test at Oval from September 7, 2018.