Veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh came down heavily on his former teammate Ravichandran Ashwin after India’s 60-run defeat against England in the fourth Test at Southampton.
While he heaped lavish praises on England spinner Moeen Ali, Harbhajan censured Ashwin for not taking advantage of the pitch conditions.
“There was so much help available on this wicket for the off-spinners. Just landing the ball at that particular rough patch would have fetched a lot of wickets. That is exactly what Moeen Ali did and got so many wickets,” Harbhajan Singh was quoted as saying by India Today.
“India lost the match where Moeen Ali bowled better than R Ashwin. For the first time, I saw England spinners bowling better than our spinners. Him (Ashwin) not being able to take wickets is the reason why we are 1-3 behind in the series,” Harbhajan added.
In the fourth Test match, Moeen Ali bagged nine wickets while Ashwin ended with three wickets to his name.
“Moeen Ali was making a comeback in the England team and won the Man of the Match award. He is a very good bowler though does not rate himself so highly. He will always bowl better than the rest as his trajectory is very good. Indian team has not been able to find any solution to his bowling since 2014 when he performed exceptionally well against us at the same venue,” Harbhajan added.
The fifth and last match of the ongoing Test series between India and England will be played at Oval starting 7 September.