“I felt like he (Cameron Green) was playing along the line for everything. The wicket was perfect enough for him to play consistently against spin. It was just the idea of getting him off as his head dropped. Yes “That was the plan, but not necessarily a way to get him out. At least I’m going back home happy today taking credit for the plan.”
The moment R Ashwin talked about in the post-match press conference was crucial in the context of the game. One wicket was followed by another and India clawed their way back into the game when the rubbing on the green went the hosts’ way and unfortunately not Green’s way.
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The right-handed batsman was dominant. He was unfazed by whatever India’s premier spinner was doing and was having an easy-going conversation with him in his own way. Ashwin thought going out was not an ideal plan against Green and wanted to take the all-rounder down with some tight lines. He had planned it all in his head, but he wasn’t able to execute it to perfection, although he would certainly “go to bed very happy” with that prized skull.
For 59.4 overs, Green (114) and Usman Khawaja (180) frustrated India on a very perfect wicket with the daddy stand. Nothing much was happening outside the surface and it was not difficult to bat in the right way.
Green’s wicket was Ashwin’s second and he added another in the same over when Alex Carey did things and was dismissed for a four-ball duck. Inside five balls, Ashwin provided some life on a day which was dominated by the batsmen.
Having seen a fair bit of how the green works, Ashwin planned and sorted out the “complications” in his mind and it was only a matter of time before he unleashed the bag of tricks and variations.
This was not a surface where the same spot would do different things. It wasn’t Nagpur, it wasn’t Delhi and it certainly wasn’t Indore’s fiery turner. It was a subcontinent wicket, as Ashwin pointed out, with lots of cut grass, well rolled and lots of water under the surface. The kind of strip that gets worse as the game progresses but not Turner on day one.
He has his own strength and you have to stay away from his strength. Obviously from what we saw in Australia. I played a practice match against him. Watching him bat from there. How well he moves the outside off, how well he comes down the pitch and sweeps the ball. On all these things… It is my duty as a bowler to keep an eye on them.
Not only Green, Khwaja also had plans.
While Ashwin didn’t get the big wicket of Khawaja, who batted forever during his 422-ball 180, the spinner had a plan for him too. He managed to get what he had in mind but Khawaja’s solid backfoot play and no-fuss approach made it difficult for Ashwin to make inroads as well.
As in the previous Australia series, Ashwin changed his load-up during the Ahmedabad Test and got Khawaja to do what he wanted, but this was not the day where anything was breaking the rock.
He said, ‘I felt that the pace of the pitch gave the batsmen a lot of opportunity to play off the back foot. I did that (load-up variation) in Australia as well when we went there last time during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. One objective is to try to make the batsman remember its speed or its trajectory.”
“Whenever I bowl with that action, the pace is slightly different. Sometimes you try to go back to the ball which is a bit fuller which Usman was doing throughout the game, so maybe that was the idea behind it.”
“I wanted to see if I could get more purchase because bending the wrist like that would put the seam in a different position. These are all complications inside my head. However, how it comes out is how the batsman sees it,” Ashwin explained.
For the most part of the innings, Khawaja continued to rely on his back-foot play and stuck to it, despite looking awkward on occasions. As the ball was not going to turn under the nose, it allowed the batsmen to rely more heavily on their back-foot defense than in the previous three matches. Even if there was a slight error in judging the length, the true nature allowed the batsman to negotiate safely.
‘Better than Bangladesh series’
Ashwin was on it from day one. The figures on the first day were not impressive but the off-spinner was happy with the way the ball was coming off his hands.
From 25-8-57-1 on the first day, Ashwin produced a masterclass with 22.2-7-34-5 on the second day and ended with impressive figures of 47.2-15-91-6.
After the fifth in the series opener in Nagpur, Ashwin was not in the bag of wickets in the next two Tests but was satisfied with his spell and outing. For that, he was bowling better than in the series outside Bangladesh.
“No spell is better than the other. To be honest, I felt it at different stages of this series… be it Delhi in the first innings or the second innings. The numbers might not give you a five or a six but throughout the series The ball has been coming out beautifully. All the things I’ve done – loading and changing actions and wiggling my wrists. All those things have ensured that my spells have been far more effective than they were against Bangladesh.”
“I feel I was not at my best. However, the small changes I made ensured I got enough purchase on the wicket and arm. It was doing a lot more in the air than Bangladesh,” Ashwin said.
In this Test as well, the first day was not a big wicket-taking day but Ashwin felt he put pressure on the batsmen and it was a consistent effort over the two days that helped him reap the rewards and return with a six-wicket haul. .
“What worked for me yesterday, works for me today. Nothing much different. When you come to pitches like this… I remember my first tour of Australia in 2011-12, I bowled as a spinner. Put a lot of spin on the ball, and if things don’t work for you, spin it more, but what I learned was that if you have to end up with a bag of wickets and come out the other side, So every over should happen. It is considered the most important over of the game.”
“What happened today also could not have happened but I think I set it up yesterday to bowl 25-26 good overs. It is a period of pressure and I was able to keep it on the batsmen for two days.
over batters
After almost two long days in the sun, the bowlers can finally put their feet up and cheer on the batsmen from the dressing room.
These weren’t easy conditions to bowl in, and it showed in the way the rest of the players struggled, and the onus will now be on the batsmen to bat big and put the pressure back on Australia.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill hit the right note in the brief time they came in to bat at the back end and will now look to make it big in ideal batting conditions.
He said, ‘Tomorrow is a very important day for batting. Our batting will decide how the game goes. Australia had a good chance to get us out by scoring 550-600 runs but it didn’t happen. We could have also spent 30-40 runs less but this is all foresight.
“Three seasons of good batting… that is the beauty of Test cricket. We talk about what could happen, what the conditions are, what the surface is but just let it out and it could turn out to be a wonderful game in the back half. Expect a good game of cricket and tomorrow is very important for us,” concluded Ashwin.
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