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India has attracted some flack, in recent years, for an inclination to prepare wickets that turn from the first day, on which they generally flog visiting teams. This time, however, the Australian slow bowlers showed they would be as devastating as their Indian counterparts.Not many observers would argue that Lyon and O’Keefe are as proficient as Ashwin and Jadeja; India’s main slow bowlers have formed a formidable pairing in home conditions. But those conditions, in effect, equalized the potency of each bowler, granting even the usually ordinary spinner the potential to be as troublesome as the world beater.
The story so far hasn’t been only about spin bowling, however. Stephen O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have all been highly effective. But the pacers have had their moments too. We have witnessed blazing pace and toe-crunching swing with the new ball from Mitchell Starc, demanding accuracy from Josh Hazlewood, and pace allied with incisive contrast swing from Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma.
Both games, but especially in the Bengaluru Test, grabbed and tightly held on to the attention of the entire cricket community. Every session was a story. Every story supplied drama and intrigue worthy of the best Hollywood or Bollywood could offer. And every scene was played out on a 22-yard strip that facilitated the kind of theater we were fortunate to witness.
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The story so far hasn’t been only about spin bowling, however. Stephen O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have all been highly effective. But the pacers have had their moments too. We have witnessed blazing pace and toe-crunching swing with the new ball from Mitchell Starc, demanding accuracy from Josh Hazlewood, and pace allied with incisive contrast swing from Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma.
Both games, but especially in the Bengaluru Test, grabbed and tightly held on to the attention of the entire cricket community. Every session was a story. Every story supplied drama and intrigue worthy of the best Hollywood or Bollywood could offer. And every scene was played out on a 22-yard strip that facilitated the kind of theater we were fortunate to witness.
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