India tour of England: R Ashwin became first spinner in 11 years to bowl the first over in English county – Watch Video – Team India ace spinner R Ashwin, who played for Surrey in the county against Somerset on Sunday, become the first spinner in 11 years to bowl the first over of the match. New Zealand cricketer Jeetan Patel was the last one to bowl the first over in 2010. Patel also bowls right-arm off-spin.
👀 Don’t leave those.
WATCH LIVE ⏩ https://t.co/0WriMzkGx9 pic.twitter.com/nbJ6zvMyyx
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) July 11, 2021
Ashwin’s figures after the first two sessions read 24-5-58-1 as skipper Rory Burns, who is also an England opener used him from both ends of the Oval ground.
India tour of England: The pitch was a slow one and Ashwin didn’t try out many variations and trying to hit one area consistently as he got some drift also. Not many balls turned a lot and he got his first wicket for Surrey early into the second session breaching Tom Lammonby (42)’s defence.
☝ WICKET
Ravi Ashwin’s first wicket for Surrey!
He bowls Lammonby for 42.
Somerset – 113/3 pic.twitter.com/flP205B2Uu
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) July 11, 2021
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With Indians not having too many first-class games, Ashwin and the BCCI took the initiative to arrange one game for him to get overs under his belt.
The idea was to get as many overs as possible without displaying variations which the opposition team can pick up through their opener, who is also captaining the rival side.
Also Read: India Tour of England: Jasprit Bumrah and wife Sanjana watch on Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley
👉 What are Rory Burns & Ravi Ashwin pointing at here?
Wrong answers only… pic.twitter.com/s0rkspqDaZ
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) July 11, 2021
India tour of England: Ashwin hardly bowled loose deliveries till his 25th over in which only five boundaries were scored which included two conventional sweep shots behind square and one slog sweep in the cow corner region from the Somerset batsmen.