BGT 2023 | Twitter labels Ashwin ‘GOAT’ as he outfoxes Labuschagne and Smith in single over

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Although records are made to be broken, great players keep their stature by building legacies all on their own. R Ashwin is one such character in Test cricket, and his utter brilliance was on display on Friday when he dismissed both Labuschagne and Smith within the space of three balls.

In the second Test against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, David Warner and Usman Khawaja gave Australia a strong start after their humiliating defeat in Nagpur a few days earlier. However, their middle-order batters failed to carry on the momentum that the openers set by forging a 50-run stand for the first wicket. Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith – two best batters in the world in red-ball cricket – fell to Ravichandran Ashwin in one over.

It was the 23rd over of Australia’s innings when the two prized wickets fell in quick succession. The fourth ball that Ashwin bowled was drifting away which Labuschagne tried to push forward, only to be trapped leg before. Although the on-field umpire did not raise his finger, Ashwin convinced Rohit Sharma to take the DRS. The ball tracker on the big screen indicated three reds, showing the ball would have crashed into middle stump. Therefore, Labuschagne, who expressed his disappointment soon after watching the reply, had to return to the pavilion after scoring 18 off 25 balls.

Then Ashwin got the big fish – Steve Smith. The Australian has been widely regarded as the finest Test batter in the modern era for his composure and skillset, but he had no answer to Ashwin’s genius. Bowling around the wicket, the veteran bowled a slider that was going away with the angle. Smith, however, expected the ball would turn back and went for a defensive push, only to find a thin outside edge before the ball went into KS Bharat’s big gloves. When the Indian players leapt in joy for dismissing Smith without any damage, the Australian batter slowly began to walk back to the dugout after a rare two-ball stay in the middle.

The occurrence was very unusual given Labuschagne and Smith love to stay at the crease as much as possible. Hence, Twitterati described Ashwin as the Greatest of All Time for pulling off something as extraordinary on the field.

What a DRS!

Gone, On the first

Plan worked well

Finishing them off!

Ashwin on fire

Chess play

Can't get better

Legend of format

One by one

That over!

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