"How reckless can you be?" - Indian legend's scathing attack on England batters following loss in AUS vs ENG Ashes 2025-26 1st Test

Legendary former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed the England batters following their defeat in the opening Ashes 2025-26 Test in Perth. The match ended on Day 2 (Saturday, November 22), with Travis Head’s 123 off 83 balls powering Australia to a stunning eight-wicket victory while chasing 205 in the fourth innings in just 28.2 overs.

After the match, Ashwin, in a video on his YouTube channel, delivered a scathing critique of the England batters, who struggled with the bat in the Test, scoring just 172 (35.3 overs) and 164 (34.4 overs) across their two innings. Commenting on England’s batting performance, Ashwin said:

“But how reckless will reckless suffice? 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? Because I am saying that, you know, there are many things. I don’t want to take names of players. Even in the Indian team, there will be many next-generation players who, I mean, the fielders are back on the boundary, yet they take the chance, they hit lofted shots.” “As a batting group, how reckless can you be? Because on the first day, you were knocked out for 172, you lost five wickets in the space of 12 or 15 or maybe 20 runs. After that your bowling attack wrestled the initiative back, gave you a 40-run lead. And your first job as a batting unit is to give your bowlers enough rest. And Rahul (Dravid) bhai always says, 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 are back on the park looking to defend 200, which is paltry,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc was named Player of the Match for his outstanding performance, taking 10 wickets across both innings, including a seven-wicket haul in the first.

---

“Truly hammered” - R Ashwin calls out England for reckless cricket in 1st Ashes Test

In the same video, Ravichandran Ashwin remarked that England were completely hammered for their reckless cricket by an Australian team missing key bowlers like Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. He said:

“In my view, England, minus Pat Cummins minus Hazlewood have been hammered, and truly hammered, after they put on a show and thinking Bazball has come to town. They have been hammered for reckless cricket. So I know Michael Vaughan was saying on commentary that this team knows how to come back. I hope they do, because this will become a very, very, very long tour otherwise.”

The two teams will return to action for the second Test, beginning Thursday, December 4, in Brisbane.

Follow IPL Auction 2025 Live Updates, News & Biddings at Sportskeeda. Get the fastest updates on Mega-Auction and cricket news

Edited by Dev Sharma