text: Ashiwn bowled the classical off-spin that turned right across Cook's defending bat to hit the top of the stumps
  Karan Nanda
  Aug 01, 2018
  R Ashwin has yet again proved why he is called one of India’s best spin bowlers. The 31-yr-old bowler picked up a wicket of England’s opening batsman Alastair Cook during the opener of the five-Test series at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on August 1.
  This is for the 8th time Ashwin has picked the wicket of Cook in Test cricket.
  In the ninth over, Ashiwn bowled the classical off-spin that pitched around leg and then turned right across Cook’s defending bat to hit the top of the stumps.
  Impressed with Ashwin’s off-spin Twitterati praised the bowler for his effort and called the delivery as the ‘ ball of the millennium’.
  Here is how Tweeps applauded:
  Ashwin got rid of Cook with a peach…but considering the number of overs Ashwin has bowled in the first session of the Test, playing another spinner wouldn’t have been a bad choice. #EngvInd
  — Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 1, 2018
  Turn on the first morning and a gorgeous ball from Ashwin. Dream delivery for an off-spinner to a leftie.
  — Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 1, 2018
  Batsman dismissed most often by Ashwin in Tests:
  9 D Warner
  8 A COOK *
  7 E Cowan
  6 Darren Bravo/ M Samuels/ M Starc/ M Morkel#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/wwgYzJrk4u
  — Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) August 1, 2018
  Good swing from Yadav and Ishant early _
  But absolute Peach from Ashwin bowls Cook _ #CorridorOfConfusion#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/pZaiOyunx2
  — Damien Fleming (@bowlologist) August 1, 2018
  Earlier, England skipper Joe Root won the toss and opted to bat against India.
  Virat Kohli surprisingly dropped Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara from the playing XI and included in-form Lokesh Rahul for No.3 spot. Besides, he picked four quick bowlers with Ravichandran Ashwin as the lone specialist spinner.
  England, on the other hand, already announced their playing XI on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 with leg-spinner Adil Rashid making his comeback to the longer format after a two-year gap.
  Teams:
  England: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (Captain), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
  India: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.