Pragyan Ojha has huge praise for R. Ashwin, said he is extremely important for the Indian side.

In the opening day of the first test match between India and West Indies, R. Ashwin had a record fest as the spinner took a fiver in the match and surpassed England’s bowler James Anderson in the number of five wicket hauls. Now Ashwin has 33 five wicket hauls, plus he became the first Indian bowler to take father’s and son’s wickets in test matches. If that was not enough, he has now achieved 700 International wickets. No doubt the first day of the test was a record-breaking one for him. Ashwin picked up the wickets of Kraigg Brathwaite, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, debutant Alick Athanaze, Alzarri Joseph, and Jomel Warrican, bowling out the West Indies for 150 runs in 64.3 overs.

R. Ashwin was dropped earlier from the team when India was taking on Australia in the final of the WTC, and this weird decision to drop the number 1 test bowler from the team in such an important match went over the heads of former cricketers and experts. Even Ashwin looked baffled with the decision, and that was one of the most important reasons for India’s weak performance with the ball in the final that cost them an ICC title. Now that R. Ashwin is proving his worth in the team by taking a five-wicket haul in Day 1, even former Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha praised his bowling skills and said encouraging words for him:

He has got four hundreds against them. He made his debut against them, picking wickets and has done wonderfully well. The way he set up the batters was brilliant. He was varying his pace and the West Indies batters did not have answers to the questions that were thrown by Ashwin to them,”

Pragyan Ojha said on JioCinema

If you see all the champion players, they cross that hurdle and make sure that they always deliver when the team needs them. Ashwin has always been special with the ball and he continues to do that,”

Pragyan Ojha added