Thought it was the right time to enforce follow-on: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ace Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was at his very best yet again in the second Test against Sri Lanka recently. Ashwin bagged 5/69 in the first innings of the match to bundle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 183. Team India were quick to enforce the follow on on the hosts and invited them to bat again. This time around, the Sri Lankan team batted much more sensibly. They finished with 209/2 by the end of the day’s play.

Despite their resistance, the game is still pretty much in India’s and as Sri Lanka still trail by 230 runs. After the end of day’s play, Ravichandran Ashwin reflected back at the proceedings of the day. He looked content with the way he bowled and the way things fared up for India. He quoted that the pitch assisted the spinners in the morning session and that helped him and Jadeja to make merry. He credited Jadeja for his good bowling.

“It had a bit of venom in the morning, first session. As the ball got older and we bowled the second time around, it is kind of fizzling out and the edges aren’t carrying that much to the fielders. We beat the bat a lot. I thought Mendis batted beautifully. He put Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) off his length very quickly, credit to him,” quoted Ravichandran Ashwin.

He further noted that he expects the pitch to be doing a little more on the last two days. He is expecting the pitch to get slower as the game progresses. As per the quotes in Wisden India, Ravichandran Ashwin remarked that the Indian team will be keen on wrapping up the game tomorrow. However, things will not be that easy as the edges from the bat is not carrying.

“I think this wicket will get slower and slower. It is not going to be easy work tomorrow for sure. We will have to be really disciplined. We gave a few runs more than ideally we should have given today. Tomorrow, we can probably try and squeeze them out and try and nip a few wickets up early. It is going to be very, very important. Mind you, it is not going to be easy because it is slowing down at a very, very quick pace,” said Ashwin.

“Edges aren’t carrying. That means we will have to stick our guns out and try to prise a few wickets out. The second new ball, therefore, becomes important. They got a great partnership but the guys coming in will have to start from scratch. There is going to be an equal challenge on both sides,” he added.

On Sri Lankan batsmen

Lauding the efforts of the Sri Lankan batsmen, Ashwin conceded that they applied themselves well in the second innings. Dimuth Karunaratne is still batting on 92. In the day’s play, it was Kusal Mendis’ ton that guided the hosts towards some resistance.

“Changing lengths and lines are both inter-related because if you have to go wider, you’ll have to push the ball a little further for it to be a good length and all that. We did try and lot of things in the middle today, it was not like a lack of intensity or anything. It was just that a couple of good batsmen batted beautifully,” said Ashwin.

On why India enforced the follow-on

Citing the reasons for India’s decision to enforce the follow-on, Ravichandran Ashwin revealed that the bowlers were fresh this time around. In the first Test, the case was different. Here, they had bowled out the hosts in just two sessions and hence felt that the bowlers could go out and do the job again.

“More often than not, we’ve based it upon how fresh or tired the bowlers are. We did get them all out under two sessions, we thought it is the right time to enforce the follow-on. We also felt that the wicket will keep on slowing down. It won’t be easy work as the game gets deeper into the fourth or fifth day. You might see balls spitting away, that’s because of spots in front of the wicket, but it’s not really that vicious for the ball to take an edge and go to the slip fielders. If you play with soft hands, it’s very difficult to get them out,” said Ashwin.