JOIN USThe inclusion of R Ashwin benefitted India in three ways. His presence ensured India no longer had a long tail, his off-spinners looked more threatening than Karn Sharma’s leg-spinners and India’s slip-catching became a lot safer. All these were missing in the opening Test at Adelaide.
Ashwin scored a confident 35, picked the wicket of Shane Watson and held a difficult catch at slip to dismiss Shaun Marsh that played a substantial hand in India staying ahead of Australia here on Thursday.
“We are drinking water starting from evening and trying to keep ourselves rehydrated,” he noted, obviously referring to the Brisbane heat. “I think we are in front of the game at this point of time. If we can have a good first session tomorrow, I think we will be well ahead.” Ashwin did trouble the batsmen on the Gabba surface though he didn’t have much assistance from it. “I think using the feet is going to be much easier on these kinds of wickets,” he pointed out. “If It was slightly different with more foot marks, I would fancy myself much more.
I kept throwing the ball and I still back myself to get more wickets tomorrow morning. It’s not about Steve Smith or any name that we want to take here, it’s just a couple of wickets that we need to take. Nobody is as big as we proclaim to be,” he offered when asked if Smith was a crucial wicket for India.
The off-spinner was asked how he took his exclusion from the first Test where he would have proved quite handy. “These things are going to happen,” he stressed. “It’s not just with me, it’s not going to stop with me, it’s going to happen to many cricketers in the future and it’s happened to many cricketers in the past. I think it’s the horses for courses policy and you should really appreciate the fact that if the team needs someone else more than you and if you need to make way. I was more than happy to do it. If there is anything to learn from it, I would try and learn from it. I can become a better cricketer,” he reasoned.
Ashwin added 51 runs with MS Dhoni for the seventh wicket but wasn’t happy with the way he got out. “I think we could have made a little more runs,” he noted. “I was terribly disappointed with the way I got out in the morning. I thought I batted at my best… After a long time, I got a chance to bat and felt really disappointed to have given my wicket away. Maybe if we had extended the partnership, we would have got 50 more runs. But 400 is enough I guess and if we can get a couple of wickets in the morning, we are right in front,” he explained.