Former Indian cricketer R Ashwin hailed Australian fast bowler Scott Boland for his performance in the recently ended Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under. The legendary spinner feels that Australia wouldn’t have won the Test series if Boland had not played. Notably, Australia defeated India in a Test series after 10 years. On the other hand, Scott Boland, who wasn’t in the playing for the first Test, came as a replacement for Josh Hazlewood.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who announced his retirement in middle of the BGT 2024-25, said that Scott Boland’s inclusion in the playing XI helped Australia a lot to win the series. "All said that Pat Cummins had a great series, but he struggled against left-handers. Australia was lucky that Scott Boland came into the team. If Boland had not played, India would have won the series. No offence to Josh Hazlewood; he is a fantastic bowler. But if they had continued with the same attack, we would have won. Boland's round-the-wicket deliveries to our left-handers were a major factor,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by India Today.
Pure cricket: R Ashwin gets impressed with tough fight between teams in BGT 2024-25
Speaking further, R Ashwin also expressed his delight on a exciting Test series between Australia down under. India took a lead of 1-0 after winning the first Test by 295 runs in Perth. However, the hosts made a great comeback and finally clinched the series by 3-1 to end their 10-year-old BGT drought.
"The series was on the line till the last session in Sydney. What a great series it was. As pure cricket, it was a class series, outstanding. Australia won the series after a tough fight till the last day. Usman Khawaja said after the series, 'I was Bumrah'ed ' That shows how intense the series was," Ashwin said.