Harbhajan Singh holds Ravichandran Ashwin responsible for India's defeat in Southampton

The pitch in Southampton provided a fair amount of assistance to the spinners. The same was palpable from the manner Moeen Ali bowled on the strip. He ripped India apart with a five-wicket haul in the first innings and followed it up with four wickets in the second innings.

To multiply his joy, he was crowned as the Man of the Match. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s journey was a tad contradictory. The off-break bowler could only pick up three wickets, combining both the innings and couldn’t help his team evade a 60-run defeat.

In the meantime, Harbhajan Singh, who is currently serving a stint as a commentator with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reckons that the Tamil Nadu-born off-break bowler wasn’t able to take advantage of the favourable conditions at The Ageas Bowl.

“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 was quoted as saying in India Today.

Ashwin is a great bowler and has achieved so much

The seasoned campaigner believes Moeen outclassing Ashwin in the spin department turned out to be pivotal in the context of the match. Moreover, he mentioned that the visiting team would’ve been in a better position had the tweaker picked up at least two to three more wickets.

“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,” the 38-year-old remarked.

“Ashwin is a great bowler and has achieved so much for India. But he failed to take wickets when it mattered the most, that is on Day 3. Had he taken just two or three wickets, not even a five-wicket haul, then India would have been chasing a target of 160-170 runs for victory which was very much achievable,” he added.

The fifth and final Test is scheduled to be played at Kennington Oval in London and the contest has no significance as far as the result of the series is concerned. However, Virat Kohli and Co would be hoping to put their best foot forward and end their English campaign on a positive note.

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