Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy had "imperfections", better series than 2005 Ashes: Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin termed the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England, which ended in a 2-2 draw, as a series much better than the 2005 Ashes series between Australia and England in the UK. Ashwin was speaking on his YouTube Channel as quoted by Wisden, Ash ki Baat, following India's thrilling six-run win over England at The Oval on Monday, which helped India level the series 2-2, marking the start of Shubman Gill's era as a captain with immense promise, a never-give-up attitude and record-breaking batting/bowling feats.

The 2005 Ashes series saw England bounce back after two successive Ashes losses at home and away under Nasser Hussain and bring back the prestigious urn home for the first time since 1986-87, playing their cricket in front of their home crowd with Michael Vaughan at helm, with the same fiery, never-give-up attitude which defined Team India this series. Both the bowling sides had immense experience and talent, with Aussies having top pacers Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and spin wizard Shane Warne, while England had James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff in their fast bowling stocks.

The batting units of both sides were no less, with Aussies having veterans like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer alongside promising talents like Michael Clarke, Simon Katich and Brad Haddin. England had stars like Marcus Trescothick and Vaughan, with the support of up-and-coming batters like Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. England won a well-fought series 2-1 after initially being 1-0 down in the series, winning the second Test at Birmingham by two runs, drawing the third Manchester Test, winning the fourth Nottingham Test and drawing the final London Test.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy was much better than the 2005 Ashes, pointing out the "imperfection" that both sides were dealing with. "A lot of people are comparing this series with the 2005 Ashes, but I think this series was slightly better than even the 2005 Ashes - because there was so much more imperfection, from both sides," Ashwin said.

"If you look at that Australian team, there was Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, you had Michael Kasprowicz, Shaun Tait. From this side [England] you had Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, you had Ashley Giles. There was a lot of experience in the bowling attacks. There was experience in the batting too. There was a lot of hard-fought cricket, where you could not see a lot of mistakes. It was hard-fought," he added. Indeed, there were a lot of imperfections on both sides. India had a young captain Shubman Gill leading them, under scrutiny for his poor record outside Asia prior to the series. There was an absence of senior stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, having retired from Test cricket.

Also, India had an inexperienced/inconsistent pace attack consisting of Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Shardul Thakur, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Arshdeep Singh alongside Jasprit Bumrah, who was dealing with workload issues and played only three Tests and Mohammed Siraj. India was also struggling to sort out their number three issue in the batting line-up, playing both Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair at the spot, but both failed to make any significant impact.

England also had its share of "imperfections", with skipper Ben Stokes' batting form and overall fitness under scrutiny. They also had a much weaker/inexperienced pace attack in the absence of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, with Chris Woakes being the lead pacer to Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse. While Jofra Archer made his return to Tests after four years, he could only play two Tests. Also, another experienced express pacer, Mark Wood, with 119 wickets in 37 Tests to his name, was missing out. Ashwin said that "there were a lot of mistakes" in the series on the part of players.

"But the young players have corrected their mistakes and gotten better through the series. You had somebody like KL Rahul who's not put a foot wrong in the series. Then you had somebody like a Rishabh Pant or Shubman Gill, who made errors - both got run out once - they played some poor shots and got out at the crucial moments," he continued. "In the bowling too, Mohammed Siraj has had some down spells, Prasidh [Krishna] has had some ordinary spells. England have bowled poorly, but have fought back through Ben Stokes. So there has been a lot of imperfection. There was a lot of perfection in the 2005 Ashes, but we got to see a lot of imperfection in this series," he continued.

Ashwin said that this all was the "beauty" of the series as players corrected their "vulnerabilities" and made the series feel like a "festival". "For anyone who paid money to go watch the match, no one would say they did not have their money's worth. Twenty-five days of riveting cricket, and I could give anything to watch this series, I have not missed a moment," he concluded.

Coming to the match, after England opted to bowl first, they reduced India to 153/6. A 58-run partnership between Karun Nair (57 in 109 balls, with eight fours) and Washington Sundar (26 in 55 balls, with three fours) was the most meaningful part of the inning as India was bundled out for 224 runs. Apart from Gus Atkinson's five-wicket haul, Josh Tongue (3/57) was also good. In the second innings, four-fers from Siraj (4/86) and Prasidh Krishna (4/62) reduced England to 247, despite a 92-run opening stand between Zak Crawley (64 in 57 balls, with 14 fours) and Ben Duckett (43 in 38 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and a fifty by Harry Brook (53 in 64 balls, with five fours and a six). They led by 23 runs.

In India's second innings, key contributions came from Yashasvi Jaiswal (118 in 164 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes), Akash Deep (66 in 94 balls, with 12 fours), Ravindra Jadeja (53 in 77 balls, with five fours) and Washington Sundar (53 in 46 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes). Sundar stitched a very crucial 10th wicket stand with Krishna, with the latter scoring nothing out of it and Sundar doing all the hitting.

They all took India to 396 runs, giving them a 373-run lead and setting a target of 374 runs for England to win the series. India started well, reducing England to 106/3. However, fine centuries from Harry Brook (111 in 98 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes) and Joe Root (105 in 152 balls, with 12 fours) troubled India with a 195-run stand for the fourth wicket. At one point, England was 317/4 on day four. However, a late surge by Siraj (5/104) and Krishna (4/126) shifted the pressure to England, and they were left six runs short, bundled out for 367 runs.

The series is drawn 2-2, reflecting the true nature of how well-fought the series was. The Shubman Gill era has started with immense promise and fight, giving signs of a bright future. (ANI)

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