Ashes 2025-26: 'How reckless can you be' - Ashwin blames England batters for shambolic loss in Perth
England were bowled out for 172 and 164 in their first and second innings, respectively.
2 Min Read
Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has pinned England's defeat in the first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes on their 'reckless' batting. England were bowled out for 172 and 164 in their first and second innings, respectively.
Taking to a video on his YouTube channel, Ashwin questioned how 'reckless' could England's aggressive brand of cricket get after their performance in the series-opening clash. He even drew parallels to the style of India's emerging players while dealing in boundaries in comparison to how the English batters approach their game.
“I am actually thinking, where will the bandwidth of the word ‘reckless’ remain? If you keep putting everything into that bandwidth, how reckless can even reckless get? I don’t want to take names of players. Even in the Indian team, there will be many next-generation players who, the fielders are back on the boundary, yet they take the chance, they hit lofted shots,” Ashwin said.
On the other hand, the veteran off-spinner also mentioned that the batting unit should have applied themselves a lot better, especially after claiming a 40-run first innings lead courtesy of the bowlers. He also reflected on ex-Indian captain Rahul Dravid's piece of advice pertaining to the same theme.
“As a batting group, how reckless can you be? Because on Day 1, you were knocked out for 172, you lost five wickets for maybe 20 runs. After that, your bowling attack wrestled the initiative back, gave you a 40-run lead. Your first job as a batting unit is to give your bowlers enough rest.
Rahul (Dravid) bhai always said, give your bowlers overnight rest and see how your bowlers respond. Today, they came and cleaned up the last wicket. The England bowlers, I am sure, would have wanted to put their feet up, and in no time they were back on the park looking to defend 200 [205], which is paltry,” he added.
ENG should play pink-ball warm-up after Perth loss: Vaughan
England only played a total of 67.3 overs across their two innings. Harry Brook (52 off 61) and Gus Atkinson (37 off 32) were the top run-getters for the tourists in both their innings, respectively. Although they scored runs at a rate of 5.23 (first innings) and 4.73 (second innings), the Ben Stokes-led side just could not spend enough time out in the middle.
Eventually, the Three Lions were blown away by a swashbuckling knock by Travis Head (123 off 83) during the run-chase. They were defeated by eight wickets. Mitchell Starc starred with a 10-wicket match haul, and was awarded the Player of the Match award for his stellar outing. The second Test is scheduled to commence on December 4 in Brisbane.
Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:
Download Our App