Ravi Ashwin Makes History Against Ben Stokes With Scalp In Hyderabad On Day 3

Ashwin celebrating an ENG wicket at Hyderabad (BCCI)

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin cleaned up England captain Ben Stokes with a mesmerizing flight on Day 3 of the first Test match between the two sides at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Stokes’ dismissal at the stroke of Tea reduced the visitors’ second innings response to 163-5, when they were another 27 runs away from India’s advantage.

While the wicket marked Ashwin’s second victim of the day and his fifth of the match, it also extended his dominance over the English all-rounder in Test cricket.

Ashwin gets Stokes for the 12th time

Ravichandran Ashwin zipped through Ben Stokes’ resolute defense with a gripping turn on the third afternoon in Hyderabad. Ashwin’s breakthrough extended his dominance over Stokes in Test cricket, as the veteran Indian spinner has now dismissed Stokes 12 times in the format.

The two cricketers first encountered each other in Tests back in 2016 when the Englishmen toured India. Ashwin dismissed Stokes five times in their first series against each other, and got the all-rounder’s number a few more times in the subsequent years until he disrupted the seasoned English cricketer for the 12th time in January 2024.

Ben Stokes, in response, averages just 19.3 against the Indian spinner. Moreover, Ashwin has also dismantled Stokes four times across all their ODI stalemates between the years 2011 and 2017.

In the meantime, earlier in the match, England blazed their way past the 100-run mark off the back of a belligerent ‘BazBall’ approach from the top-order, which featured raw knocks from Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett and an unbeaten half-century from Ollie Pope.

However, much like their first innings downfall, England suffered a staggering middle-order collapse at the hands of Indian spinners after losing their initial set of wickets.

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