I didn't complain when I played in Johannesburg: R Ashwin

The spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra together took all the 10 wickets on day 2 as South Africa ended up getting dismissed for just 79 runs in their first innings. India came to bat afterwards and were also wrapped up for 173 runs in the second innings on the same day. South Africa came back to bat again in their second innings and were at 32/2 chasing 310 at stumps; with that day 2 saw a record 20 wickets falling on a single day.

This was only the 2nd time in Test cricket that 20 wickets had fallen on a single day in India. The previous occasion was in 2004 when India played Australia at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Many present and former cricketers turned to Twitter to criticize the Nagpur strip.

But, off-spinner Ashwin had no problem with the type of wicket India and South Africa are currently playing. He said that it was left to the batsmen to use their skills and counter spin and bounce.

“I did not complain when I played in Johannesburg. I was dropped for a year. I am not going to complain for playing here either. I see no reason to complain. Swing, seam and bounce, match over in 2 days in Trent Bridge (England). I don’t know what that is about.” Ashwin said while speaking to reporters after the end of day 2.

He also pointed out that playing spinners on a turning wicket requires skills. “What is the problem with spin and bounce? It is good even spin and bounce, isn’t it? It is about skills for batsmen to play and counter.” Ashwin defended the pitch.

Ashwin explained his bowling plans and how he controlled his bowling throughout the match on this pitch. He said,”On a pitch like this, the person who can get the ball to go straight on is definitely going to bring both sides of the edge into play. That is exactly what my plan was in the first innings. In the second innings, I would definitely like to reverse the plan a little bit, the wicket is getting a little bit slower and we need to try and get the batsmen on the bounce and flight and all that. It is going to be different in the second innings and we have got to be very patient. We were very disciplined this morning and it is the same thing we will have to apply tomorrow morning as well.”

Ash, nowadays, doesn’t bowl a lot of carrom balls and sticks to his reliable off breaks. However, he used a lot of variations on day 2 than he has usually done in the recent past. So, when questioned about the reason behind this, he said, “I think this wicket is actually one where the batsman needs to plan and come out to bat. The area for scoring is pretty limited. As I am going to bat, I am able to figure out what particular areas I can get my runs off and what is of paramount importance. When you put your feet down and defend properly, it is still quite a hard wicket to get through the defence. I think to top it up this morning, the first four balls that I bowled, I think that pretty much swung the game in our direction. It was copybook stuff, it looked like identical balls for me and from then on it was catch-up game for them.”

India has set a target of 311 for South Africa to chase which looks very difficult for them. They are in a great position to seal the series tomorrow and put an end to South Africa’s unbeaten streak on foreign soil since the year 2006.