"Happily going back home taking credit for the plan at least" - Ravichandran Ashwin explains ploy against Cameron Green
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that Cameron Green’s dismissal was the by-product of an elaborate plan, although it seemed like a loose delivery. His six-wicket haul on Friday helped bundle out Australia for 480 on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.
When opener Usman Khawaja (180) and Green (114) were threatening to bat India out of the game, Ashwin came to the rescue to break the mammoth 208-run fifth-wicket stand. The 36-year-old explained his plan to land the ball on the stumps and spin it into Green, thus negating his otherwise long reach.
“He’s got his strengths, right? And you want to stay away from his strengths. I played a practice game against him at the Drummoyne Oval in Sydney. And from there on, I have been watching him bat – how well he moves to balls outside off, how well he comes down. I need to keep a check on all these things and also try and make a plan to make it uncomfortable for him.
"It was not a pitch where a lot of things were going my way, so I had to use the scrambled seam, drift, whatever was available. Those things don’t happen; you don’t really get a batsman to glove one down the leg side – it just happened. But I’ll be happily going back home today taking credit for the plan at least,” Ravichandran Ashwin told reporters at the end of day’s play.
After dismissing Travis Head in the very first session of the game, even the wily Ashwin found himself out of his depth on the flaccid track. However, completely against the run of play, Green attempted a sweep to a delivery down the leg side which kissed his glove on its way to wicketkeeper KS Bharat.
Expressing satisfaction over recording his 32nd fifer in Tests, the star tweaker acknowledged that the ball that dismissed Green could’ve gone for a boundary and his figures would’ve read something else.
“You can go to bed feeling a lot better than having just three wickets in your kitty. It does feel good [when] you end up with a good bag of wickets. Even if you don’t bowl sometimes, you just feel good about it. So yeah, I will go to bed tonight a bit early and also a bit happier. Even while bowling to Green, I just felt like he was just playing beside the line for everything. The wicket was true enough for him to play against the spin constantly. So it was an idea to just shut him down; his head falls over a lot more.
"So yes, that was the plan, but not necessarily the way you want to get him out. However, it did pan out and those things also need to go your way. If you compare that with Nathan Lyon top-edging one over fine leg in Delhi, that’s the difference between ending up with a three or six. So it’s as minute as that. Sometimes the numbers speak easily for the spell or the bowler, but I just felt completely happy in my own cocoon about how the ball’s come out from my hand,” Ashwin elaborated.
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The scalp seemed to help him rediscover his mojo as he ran through Australia’s tail with relative ease. Although Nathan Lyon (34) and Todd Murphy (41) kept the hosts at bay with their 70-run alliance, the Chennai lad finished with six for 91. It was also Ashwin’s 26th five-wicket haul in India, overtaking the legendary Anil Kumble (25) in the process.
“We can’t protect such players” – Ravichandran Ashwin lauds Cameron Green
Cameron Green became a household name in India when the Mumbai Indians signed him for a whopping 17.5 crore, thus making him the second-most expensive player in IPL history.
Recalling the landmark moment, Ravichandran Ashwin heaped praise on the lanky all-rounder. However, he added that the Australian cricketing ecosystem aids the growth of a generational talent like him, which isn’t the case in India.
“I hope you tuned into the IPL auction. It just tells you how the Indian cricketing fraternity rates Cameron Green. I think he’s a fantastic player. Just the raw material that is available – a person as tall as him, lovely levers, good batting sense, can bowl and hit the deck really well, moves pretty well on the field. These are once-in-a-generation cricketers you are talking about.
"However, India is very different. We can’t protect such players for a longer period of time – [it is] perform or perish. But in countries like Australia and England, these sort of cricketers are groomed pretty well and I expect Cameron Green to be a wonderful cricketer down the line,” Ashwin remarked.
Riding the confidence of a maiden international hundred, Green will look to make inroads with the ball on Day 3. Openers Rohit Sharma (17*) and Shubman Gill (18*), though, will want to build on their steady start and surmount the Aussie total.