"Thought Gabba must be really Australia's fortress" - Ravichandran Ashwin on India's win at Brisbane
Ravichandran Ashwin has had his say on India's win over Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series. The spinner feels that having fresh bowlers in the fourth Test match helped boost India's chances of winning against Australia. India won the four-match series 2-1, retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy despite having to deal with a mountain of injuries.
"I thought Gabba must be really their fortress or something given the way they were hyping," Ashwin said. "It was 1000 wickets experience versus our 13 wickets experience. In hindsight, it worked out in our favour, I guess. Fresh bowlers on the park. This is the first time that 20 players have been used to win an overseas series."
Australia were heavy favourites, with India having to make do without Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma at certain stages of the series. While India's bowling attack was fairly new and untested in Test cricket, they still managed to show great resilience and win the series.
"If you have tired legs, obviously you cannot execute" - R Sridhar echoes Ravichandran Ashwin's thoughts
India fielding coach R Sridhar also felt that having fresh legs worked in India's favour, as Australia's bowlers were simply too tired to compete late in the series. All four of the Aussie bowlers struggled in the final three India innings, and the tourists were able to come away with the series win as a result.
"t does not matter even if you are the world's best, because if you have tired legs, obviously you cannot execute your plans as well you would want to. So, it's great learning for workload management for all of us."
"It is a combination of everything, it is multifunctional. Sydney Test gave us confidence, we batted for 131 overs, we literally tired out their bowlers."
Both R Sridhar and Ravichandran Ashwin also felt that having that belief and confidence is what helped India pull off an improbable miracle against Australia.