Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar recounted a sequence during the 2017 edition of the marquee series in which ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin outclassed Australia opener David Warner in the second Test at Bengaluru ahead of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, which begins on Thursday in Nagpur.
"We had lost the first Test by a large margin in Pune and were under pressure for the next game in Bengaluru. We were bowled out for 189 on day one, and Australia had made an excellent start, scoring 40 runs without loss, with David Warner looking in command."
"As we were walking back to our rooms that evening, Ashwin had this crazy idea of going over the stumps to Warner to exploit the rough outside his leg stump and bowl him round the legs," Sridhar wrote in his book 'Coaching Beyond: My Days with the Indian Cricket Team,' published by Rupa Publications.
India was 1-0 down going into that game and needed a win in Bengaluru to tie the four-game series. "Ashwin's theory was sound; even if he didn't immediately get Warner out, that line of attack would serve the additional purpose of slowing down the scoreboard."
"At the time, Warner was a very explosive player. He was threatening to take the game away from us. All Ashwin wanted was to target the rough, dry up the runs and hopefully get one to turn sharply to bowl Warner behind his legs or across his body," added Sridhar.
Sridhar then wrote about Ashwin going to then-captain Virat Kohli after the end of day one's play to work on the plan to dismiss Warner in the way he had visualised. "He wanted to use the same spots from where Lyon had got the ball to turn on day one. Ashwin felt that while the ball off stump to the right-handed batter was turning from outside (or from outside leg to a left-hander like Warner), nothing was happening from the middle of the surface, when it was pitched on the stump line."
"After much deliberation, Ashwin dashed across to Virat's room in the middle of the night for a candid discussion of his plans and why he thought they would work. Convinced by Ashwin's logic, Virat engaged his ace off-spinner in a lengthy discussion, went back to the drawing board, worked out the field according to their plans, and executed those plans flawlessly the next morning."
On day two, Ashwin struck with the first ball of the 22nd over, taking out Warner with the rough outside leg. He had Warner confused about an outside leg delivery that went towards the stumps. The left-handed opener was supposed to pad up, but when he saw the spectacular turn, he tried to chase the ball with his hands. However, the ball spun past the bat and struck the off stump.
"Warner was dismissed almost magically by a ball pitched outside leg and spun across him. He attempted to pad the ball away but was defeated by the sharp turn, and despite his best efforts to follow the ball with his hands, it did enough to curl away from him and strike the off stump."
"That was an excellent example of the type of communication processes we had facilitated within the group, encouraging players to speak freely and without inhibitions to us or to one another. When something like this works out, there is a lot of satisfaction not only in the realisation of careful planning and flawless execution, but also in the success of a process we worked hard to put in place "Sridhar put pen to paper.
The battle between Ashwin and Warner will resurface in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where the off-spinner has dismissed the left-handed opener 10 times in Tests, with five of those dismissals coming in India.