Ravichandran Ashwin vs Nathan Lyon! Michael Vaughan picks better spinner

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has picked Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin over Australia’s legendary Nathan Lyon while speaking to Dinesh Karthik in a recent Cricbuzz show named “The Chatter”. Vaughan made this claim right after Ashwin became just the second Indian bowler to register 500 wickets in the longest format of the game.

Ravichandran Ashwin entered the elite list yesterday on day 2 of the 3rd of the 5-match series against England at the Niranjan Shah stadium in Rajkot. The 37-year-old entered the 500-club by claiming the wicket of opening batter Zak Crawley during the 3rd session with the Englishman returning back to the pavilion for just 15 runs.

However, Ashwin’s milestone individual achievement did not help India’s cause as the visitors won most of the sessions yesterday. While Crawley departed cheaply that too against the run of play, his opening pair – left-hand batter Ben Duckett displayed the improvements he made after the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Vizag with a sensational first-ever red-ball century in Indian conditions.

As India posted 445 runs in the 1st innings, England pretty much closed off the gap by posting 207 at the end of day 2, losing only two wickets of Crawley and number 3 batter Ollie Pope. Right after stumps were called on the second day, team India were handed with another setback as the milestone man Ravichandran Ashwin pulled himself out of the entirety of the 3rd Test which has 2 more days left after today.

Ashwin’s absence means that Rohit Sharma’s side have now become furthermore inexperienced with 12th man Devdutt Padikkal coming on as his replacement for day 3 proceedings. The day has already begun with Duckett and Joe Root on the crease and it will be interesting to see how India copes up without their most experienced spinner.

“I would choose Ravichandran Ashwin” – Michael Vaughan makes an honest claim

When the former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik asked Michael Vaughan to choose between Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon, the former England captain chose the veteran Indian. Though Vaughan gave Lyon his flowers but he felt that Ashwin certainly had an upper hand over the Australian due to his variations and also because of his performance with the bat.

“Nathan Lyon, another great, wonderful to see an off-spinner that doesn’t have much mystery, just has flair and garners consistency but he doesn’t have the carrom ball, he doesn’t have a slider but he’s a consistent off spinner,” Michael Vaughan said via cricbuzz. 

“If you ask me to choose one of the two, I would choose Ashwin because I just think he has a few more variations and he obviously offers few more runs with the bat. So because of Ashwin’s batting, I would choose him over Lyon,” – Vaughan added.

“I would probably consider him (Lyon) if we’re playing in Australia because of the bounce but pretty much everywhere else in the world I would go with R Ashwin. It’s a nice conversation to have and a nice decision to make between 2 world class performers but since you’re pushing me I would just go with Ashwin,” Vaughan concluded.