Ravichandran Ashwin in 'best frame of mind' despite lean patch

Ravichandran Ashwin

Despite struggling to influence games with the ball as much as he would have liked to, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin insists that the lack of wickets in recent games did not affect him too much and that he was in his best mental shape during the phase.

Ashwin said: “Honestly I was not reading or looking into anything. This is probably the best frame of mind I have been in. I have locked away a few things. I had a tour of South Africa which was quite a learning curve for me. I have decided if I am giving my best that is all I can do.”

“I cannot go back reading articles and what people are saying about me. It does not make sense. I just locked myself out. I spoke to Dhoni about a couple of things, to the coach, had chats with a few people I trust. I thought things were going alright. It can happen, you cannot keep taking wickets or making runs all the time. The frame of mind I was in helped me perform the way I did.”

Ashwin also insisted that he was happy with his bowling and had made a adjustments to bowl effectively in foreign conditions.

“I have sorted out what length and what kind of bowling needs to be done. There are certain ways you need to construct a spell abroad. I have learnt that and put that into practice,” he said.

Ashwin also said that the new fielding restrictions in limited overs cricket which requires 5 fielders to be placed inside the 30-yard circle at all times puts the bowler at a disadvantage and makes it difficult to look for wickets even if the batsmen were playing their shots and taking risks.

“That particular thing falls out of the window with the current scenario. If there is spin and you are playing with the conditions helping you, then of course there is an opportunity to look to get a wicket but if it is stacked against you then you are fighting against something which is like a wall. You cannot box against a wall. You cannot fight against the conditions and go head on and take it on.

“You definitely tend to be targeted as a spinner away from home. With the five-fielder [within the circle] rule you can only look to give a single. You cannot err on lengths.”

“The batsman knows if you have your sweeper up you are not going to err on the shorter side so you are giving away some cues to the batsman in terms of what field you are setting, and you cannot be foolish enough to try and fool the batsman. They are going to look for boundaries. You have to be really smart and try and make sure you do what the team requires. It is easy to say wickets are not coming so I will look for wickets, but you end up giving 20-30 runs extra and you have to get it back at the end of the day,” Ashwin said.

Ashwin, who played a huge part with the bat in earning India an unlikely tie against New Zealand in the 3rd ODI, will be hoping to deliver with the ball too as India look to come form behind and square the ODI series.

Th 4th ODI between India and New Zealand will take place at Hamilton on Tuesday.