R Ashwin reveals Joe Root, Labuschagne and Steve Smith's weakness with precise analysis

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has expressed his views on the weakness of Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne, during a recent interview, as per a report by The Cricket Monthly. Joe Root is currently leading England against Australia in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22, while Smith and Labuschagne have been two of the highest run-scorers in the series so far. Meanwhile, R Ashwin put out his views on the three star batters, by giving valuable insights.

Ravichandran Ashwin on Marnus Labuschagne's weakness

As mentioned in the report by The Cricket Monthly, on being questioned how he plans to get Steve Smith out, Ashwin revealed that he made Steve Smith his obsession for about six months, before India traveled to Australia in 2020-21. He revealed that he had looked at the footage of Smith and Labuschagne playing, looking to find answers to questions like how the Aussie cricketers play. Explaining Labuschagne's weakness in the interview, the Indian off-spinner added, “It's very rarely through long-on. And he doesn't have a flat sweep, he has a lap sweep, like a paddle. All these shots have a trigger. And it's very fine. If you don't know or if you've not seen enough footage, you cannot pick these things up.” 

Ravichandran Ashwin on Steve Smith's weakness

At the same time, explaining Smith's weakness Ashwin said, "And with Steve Smith, his batting is very momentum-driven. Most of his batting comes from his hands, so my whole idea was to disturb his hands through the series. He's got certain hand-movement patterns. You have to pick them and be able to bowl in a way that disturbs his hand pattern. So I bowled with different load-ups, different speeds, different run-ups, and all that. I realized I kind of got to him".

Ravichandran Ashwin on Joe Roots's weakness

Meanwhile, expressing his views on the weakness of England skipper Joe Root, Ashwin explained that Joe Root won’t block two balls in a row. Adding that Root has a got a bit vulnerable defense, Ashwin added the cricketer looks to hit balls for a sweep after defending the previous ball. As per the report by The Cricket Monthly,  adding further about the topic, Ashwin said that Root didn’t sweep him dominantly as he got singles out of it, but not many boundaries during England's last test series in India. The claim by Ashwin can be supported by the fact Root found only three boundaries out of the 19 sweep shots he hit against Ashwin during the India vs England four-match Test series in India, while he swept for a total of 82 times during the two Tests against Sri Lanka.

(Image: Instagram-@indiancricketteam/AP)