Asia Cup T20: Ashwin says spinners should adapt to conditions and not try to beat them
The surfaces that have been on offer for the ongoing Asia Cup T20 in Bangladesh have got everyone talking including the Indian limited-overs captain MS Dhoni.
While Dhoni had earlier opined that green tops are not the ideal surfaces for T20s to be played on, his strike spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that instead of complaining about the conditions, bowlers must try to adapt to the conditions.
“It is very important to know what conditions are thrown at you. You can't try and beat the conditions. It is very important to go back and understand that it will not spin a lot on these surfaces.
“That's why it is even more imperative that we try to bowl in good lengths, get away with our overs rather than looking to go for wickets,” said Ashwin on the eve of India’s Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka.
Pressure gives you wickets in T20s: Ashwin
The Tamil Nadu cricketer said that in T20 cricket it’s not always the skill of the bowler that fetches a wicket, it’s often the pressure that’s created on the batsman that’s responsible for the same.
“In T20 format, it is the pressure that gives you wickets rather than exact skill of the ball. That's what I look to do and when there is any window to attack I will attack irrespective of the wicket.
“It's T20 cricket, we might have (a) slower wicket, flatter wickets in World T20. We have to understand situation rather than complaining about it. Testing ourselves in various environments is good for us.”
The off-spinner also quipped that preparing the pitch for the game is the prerogative of the home side and that the hosts are free to prepare a wicket that suits their strengths.
“It's their choice as to what kind of wickets they want. We came thinking that the wickets will be slow but international teams need to adapt to whatever surfaces are thrown at them.
“Hopefully, it has given us a dress rehearsal of how to bat lower down the order.”
Kohli’s innings brought relief to dressing room: Ashwin
Virat Kohli played a match winning knock during India’s previous encounter against Pakistan, thereby guiding his team to a victory by 5 wickets after Mohammad Amir had threatened to take the game away from India’s grasp with his scintillating spell.
Ashwin called Kohli’s knock against Amir and company as ‘gutsy and courageous’ and mentioned that the Indian Test skipper’s innings brought a lot of relief to the dressing room.
“We needed someone to stick his head out as Amir was going through a really good spell. We needed someone to show intent.
“Virat showed that intent while defending as well as attacking, which gave the dressing room a lot of comfort.
“Obviously, we knew that with a 20-30 run stand, the match will be over as it was not a huge score. From that perspective, Virat showed a lot of guts and courage and that was very encouraging,” added Ashwin.
Of all the India-Pakistan matches that he has been a part of, he singled out the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup as the game with the maximum amount of pressure.
“Since I have been with the Indian team, just been another game. Right up there was the game we played in the 2011 World Cup semi-final at Mohali.
“Otherwise, it's been the same. I know there is a lot of hype surrounding the match and what all is written.”
Nehra and Bumrah have helped spinners: Ashwin
The highest Test wicket taker of 2015 also heaped praises upon the incumbent fast bowling duo of Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah and said that their impressive bursts have helped the spinners in a massive way.
“On a lighter note, I can only help myself (laughs). But seriously, it's nice if we can punch as a group. Ashish is experienced and had a very good IPL. He can swing the ball upfront and bowl at (the) death.
“Bumrah has a unique action, bowls lethal yorkers and it gives us huge confidence to go about in the middle-overs with a lot of attacking instinct,” he said.
However, he also added that the team would not take Sri Lanka or the UAE lightly, their opponents for the remaining Asia Cup league games.