"It's Baffling": Rohit Sharma's Weird Tactic For Ravichandran Ashwin Angers Ex-Cricketers

Ravichandran Ashwin has been one of the consistent performers for India on home conditions in the recent past and his impact on the side became even more evident from the fact that he dislodged James Anderson to become the top-ranked Test bowler in the world. As a result, it came as a major surprise to everyone that skipper Rohit Sharma waited around 15 overs to hand the bowl to his top spinner on Day 2 of the third Test against Australia in Indore. While the spin threat was being provided by Ravindra Jadeja, it was Ashwin who ultimately provided the first breakthrough of the day as he dismissed Peter Handscomb. Ravi Shastri, Mitchell Johnson and Ajit Agarkar were all taken aback by the choice made by Rohit and during their commentary, all of the ex-players made it a point to discuss his decision.

"Don't think India have been spot-on with their tactics. No Ashwin in the first hour? He is your premier bowler and has bowled only 16 overs so far. I know Axar Patel is playing as a specialist spinner but got to go to Ashwin. It's baffling," Agarkar remarked while he was commentating.

Johnson agreed with the assessment and expressed surprise at the decision.

"It's what he does to the right-handers from around the wicket that can really cause confusion. One might spin, and one might not. We've already seen Smith in this series, the one that ran past his bat.”

"At the moment, it seems that the pitch has lost a bit of a bite but certainly there's a lot in it," Agarkar continued. "He has been warming up since morning," Shastri responded to the comment.

India were staring at a rare defeat at home despite Cheteshwar Pujara's plucky half-century as veteran Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon flattened the host with his eight-wicket