"Barring Cameron Green, he got all other wickets with good balls" - Sanjay Manjrekar lauds Ravichandran Ashwin's spell in the 4th IND vs AUS Test

Sanjay Manjrekar has lauded Ravichandran Ashwin for bowling a penetrative spell on a placid surface in the ongoing fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Ashwin registered figures of 6/91 in 47.2 as Australia were bowled out for 480 in their first innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, March 10. India ended the day at 36 for no loss, with Rohit Sharma (17*) and Shubman Gill (18*) at the crease.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Manjrekar was asked about his thoughts on the speed variations employed by Ravichandran Ashwin to snare his wickets, to which he responded:

"Finally he realized that the slower you bowl on this pitch, the better it is. He has picked up many five-wicket hauls but to do that on a flat pitch on Day 1 and 2. The first wicket was Travis Head, he beat him with flight. Barring Cameron Green, he got all other wickets with good balls."

The former Indian batter praised the wily off-spinner for showcasing his wicket-taking abilities on an unresponsive pitch, elaborating:

"The pitch didn't help him much. There has been a lot of help so far in the series but there was no help at all today and despite that, he picked up six wickets. This was an extremely important performance for Ashwin and that is why he was smiling so much."

Ashwin dismissed Travis Head on the first day of the Ahmedabad Test. He broke the 208-run fifth-wicket partnership between Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green on Day 2 by getting rid of the latter and followed it up by dismissing Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon.

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"He got the reward today" - Sanjay Bangar on Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin has taken the most five-wicket hauls on Indian soil.

Sanjay Bangar highlighted that Ravichandran Ashwin got the due reward for his perseverance, observing:

"He got the reward today because many Test matches come to my mind, whether it was Melbourne, Adelaide or the 2017 Bangalore Test, where he has bowled such marathon spells but got two or three wickets."

The former Indian batting coach reckons the Tamil Nadu spinner will rate his latest five-wicket haul among his best, reasoning:

"The way he deceived the batters with his clever bowling strategies was praiseworthy. I feel he will rate this spell very highly among his 32 five-wicket hauls because the conditions were absolutely favorable for batting."

Ashwin's 6/91 was his 32nd five-wicket haul in Test cricket and 26th on home soil. Only Muttiah Muralitharan (45) has more five-wicket hauls at home.