'We have not chucked it away'
Offie Ashwin says Indians failed to seize crucial moments
On this tour of Australia, R Ashwin has been the Indian team’s troubleshooter, not on the field but off it. The management’s strategy to shield under-fire senior players and coach has been simple – send Ashwin to face the media on tough days, which have been so frequent on this tour.
So far, the Chennai offie has faced the media five times in 12 days of Test cricket in the role of damage-controller, and Friday was no different. Standing on the verge of another massive defeat, the management thrust Ashwin to face the heat.
There was no trace of a smile when Ashwin was asked to clarify his earlier comment that the Indian team was not embarrassed about its below-par efforts in the Test series. “It would be nice if you could rephrase,” Ashwin said. “Embarrassed is not the right word. Nobody has done any one thing faulty. We have not fooled or cheated anyone. 'We are extremely disappointed' is probably the words I can use.
“At the end of the day, we have competed hard, it's not that we have chucked it away. We've given it everything we had. Yes, we came short on occasions, there were moments we could have seized, and it would have looked different. Yes, we are extremely disappointed,” he said.
Ashwin said the team didn’t have the time to think about reactions at home. “We always felt that we should give something back to the fans, but if you keep thinking something is going to be faulty back home, you can't really do the work here. It's like we are on work, and we have to concentrate on it."
However, he didn’t forget to offer a few encouraging words for the supporters of the Indian team, saying they would dish out an improved performance in the one-dayers. “Everything is going to be fresh. It is going to be a different ball game. The colour of the ball also changes. Hopefully, we could change our luck as well.”
On his experiences so far on the Australian tour, Ashwin said, “As a matter of fact, I bowled pretty well in Melbourne. I wouldn't say that I didn't have much luck, but we always stumbled upon a roadblock where we get three wickets and don't get the fourth quickly enough to attack, and have gone into a break and not seized the initiative.
“With due credit, their players, a couple of them, have used their feet very well. I have tried to adjust to that. In Australian conditions, with the Kookaburra ball, even if you deceive them in flight, they can go through with their shots. This is the learning I've taken from the series, stuff I would work on when the guys are stepping out to me.”
