Three Indians have made it to Ian Chappell’s list of the top five bowlers currently active in Test cricket. The former Australian captain named Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami in his pick of the current-five best bowlers in red-ball cricket, along with South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada and top-ranked Aussie quick Pat Cummins.
All three Indian bowlers will be in action soon when they face New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton from June 18.
“Ishant’s record in the last I think I went back to the start of 2018 and looking at some stats and his record is extremely good,” Chappell told ESPNCricinfo.
Chappell also described why he picked Ashwin ahead of Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon in his list.
“I think Ashwin is a better bowler than Nathan Lyon. Have a look at Nathan Lyon’s strike rate, you are in the 70s and I am going back to 2018.
“Nathan Lyon, to me, I think runs get scored through the onside when he is bowling to the right-handers and that really just shouldn’t happen. Yes, he is a fine bowler but I think Ashwin is a better bowler,” Chappell said while replying to Sanjay Manjrekar, who doesn’t think Ashwin is one of the best in the business in Tests.
Former India batsman Manjrekar recently said that Ashwin’s lack of five-wicket hauls in SENA countries and record outside the sub-continent is the reason why he cannot be called an all-time great of the game.
Ashwin has picked 409 wickets from 78 Tests at 24.69 with 30 five-fors. He averages 21.89 with 286 wickets from 47 games at home as compared to228 scalps at 31.18 from 31 matches outside India.
“When people start talking about him as being one of the all-time greats of the game then I have a few problems. One basic problem I have with Ashwin is that when you look at SENA countries, Ashwin doesn’t have a single five-wicket haul there.
“And the other thing when you talk about him running through sides on Indian pitches that are suited to his kind of bowling is that in the last four years, Jadeja has matched him with wicket-taking abilities.
