Ashwin refuses tag of tailender or batsman

Kolkata, Nov 8 (IANS) After scoring a crucial hundred that set the stage for India’s emphatic innings win over the West Indies in the first cricket Test match here Friday, Ravichandran Ashwin refuses the tag of either a tailender or a batsman.

“I don’t expect to be called anything (whether a tailender or a batsman),” Ashwin said at a media meet after India trounced the West Indies by an innings and 51 runs at the Eden Gardens here.

“I am just doing my job and would like to keep improving all the time and look at offering my best for the team. Its never something that I have gone after. There will be never something that I will go after,” Ashwin said.

Ashwin struck a brilliant 124 and stitched together an Indian record of 280 runs for the seventh wicket with Rohit Sharma that put India in a strong position.

Having scored 740 runs with 97 wickets in 17 Test matches, Ashwin is well on course to have a shot at English all-rounder Ian Botham’s world record of completing a double (1000 runs and 100 wickets) in 21 matches.

The Indian record is in the name of Kapil Dev who completed the “double” in 25 Test matches.