Former England captain Nasser Hussain has an advice for allrounder Ben Stokes on how to tackle the threat posed by off-spinner R Ashwin. The Indian bowler is in supreme form at the moment as indicated in his match-winning performance in the 2nd Test where he not only scored his 5th Test hundred but also picked up his 29th fifer.
Writing in a column on the Daily Mail, Hussain said that attacking Ashwin is not an easy task, and Stokes has to learn how to bat at all times, especially when the ball is seeing a sharp turn.
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"The key will be his tempo. He cannot be recklessly attacking and just go after Ashwin. If it was that easy, other left-handers would have done it by now," Hussain wrote.
"But he cannot just be stuck at one end facing him, either... Ben has to use his bat at all times, including when the ball is spinning sharply out of the rough, which all left-handers have to cope with when facing a bowler with as many variations as Ashwin," he added.
"The problem for Stokes is that one of his go-to shots is the slog sweep — we saw it in that magnificent innings at Headingley when he kept on slog-sweeping and switch-hitting Nathan Lyon — but that is a high-risk shot against Ashwin in India.
{{/usCountry}}"The problem for Stokes is that one of his go-to shots is the slog sweep — we saw it in that magnificent innings at Headingley when he kept on slog-sweeping and switch-hitting Nathan Lyon — but that is a high-risk shot against Ashwin in India.
{{/usCountry}}Stokes is a very smart cricketer so he didn’t go to the sweep that much in the second Test, but he did execute a few successfully when he made 82 in the first game. It may be an option again on Wednesday in Ahmedabad if the surface is truer," Hussain said.
"Otherwise, he will probably try to play him straighter and through the off-side. This would go against how he has done it in the past — he has scored 72 percent of his runs against Ashwin in Test cricket against the spin on the leg-side.
"Running down the pitch is also a risky option for Stokes because, if the ball is spinning away from him, he only has to misjudge it by a fraction and he’s gone. And it is notable that he’s been doing that less in this series," Hussain signed off.