"We felt on this surface he will be more suited" - Ryan ten Doeschate on change in bowling combination for 2nd BGT 2024-25 Test
India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has claimed that Ravichandran Ashwin was brought into the playing XI for the second Test against Australia because the visitors believed his bowling is more suited to the surface. Ashwin bowled only one over in Australia's first innings as the hosts went to stumps at 86-1 after 33 overs.
The visitors made three changes to their playing XI for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, which began on Friday, December 6. While skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill returned to the playing XI, off-spinner Ashwin replaced Washington Sundar, who had a decent outing in Perth.
Batting first after winning the toss, India were bowled out for 180 in 44.1 overs as Mitchell Starc registered career-best figures of 6-48. The visitors only managed to pick one wicket in response in 33 overs. At a press conference after the end of the opening day's play, Ten Doeschate opened up on the decision to bring Ashwin into the playing XI. He said:
"We felt that on this surface he will be more suited."
Ten Doeschate also backed Ashwin as the No. 8 batter and added:
"When you get the confidence of Nitish [Kumar Reddy] batting at seven, it doesn't really matter with Ash batting at eight, and that was the thinking. There is not much to choose between them, and we just thought that Ash would be slightly more effective on this wicket."
While Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scored for India with 42 off 54 balls, Ashwin contributed a run-a-ball 22. The duo added 32 runs from the seventh wicket before the latter was trapped lbw by Starc.
"He's got a very high ceiling" - Ryan ten Doeschate praises Nitish Reddy
On a day where very little went right for India, young batting all-rounder Reddy stood out for his counter-attacking knock that featured three fours and as many sixes - the highlight being an audacious reverse scoop off Scott Boland.
Praising the cricketer, Ten Doeschate admitted that Reddy is still very raw, but added that he has a high ceiling.
"We're so chuffed with him... I think getting us to 150 in that first game was amazing. Just the way he went about his work. He is obviously playing his first pink-ball game. There's a little bit of work to do. He's very raw... He's done everything a young player could do in a very short space of time and we think he's got a very high ceiling," Ten Doeschate said.
Before his impressive effort on Day 1 of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Reddy contributed 41 & 38* on his debut in Perth.