Would’ve played if we had won: R Ashwin

R Ashwin (Source: PTI)

R Ashwin at press conferences, can often be like R Ashwin with the ball. He can keep wheeling away with his answers without giving much away, but then almost at will can produce a response that you least expect. On Thursday, he was asked about whether he had made any changes to his bowling after a difficult start at Perth. But little did anyone present at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), on the eve of the second T20, expect the answer that was coming their way.

“You know honestly, if I continue talking I’m going to end up giving headlines for all you people!,” he said before doing just that by adding, “But honestly, I think it happens only with bowlers. Unless we give runs, you guys don’t get entertained! The fact that I went for 70 runs and then went for 60 runs I had to sit out, and I think it’s fair enough because you have to play the right combination. As far as I’m concerned I can just work that bit harder and keep going hard at it.”

Ashwin has always been an articulate guy who reads and writes a lot. You just have to listen to him during these press conferences to know his sharp thought-process. And he tried his best, and to his credit succeeded, in not getting sucked into admitting that he was dropped. He didn’t feel he got a raw deal and insisted that the reason he wasn’t playing was because he failed to win the first two ODIs for India. “If we had won, I would have played, as simple as that,” he pointed out.

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Ashwin seemed to have regained his rhythm upon his return for the opening T20 international at the Adelaide Oval. His two wickets of Aaron Finch and Shane Watson went a long way in slowing down the Australian run-chase. He is still ranked as the No.1 Test bowler and was the key in India’s run to the semifinal during the World Cup last year. And there were few who agreed with him warming the bench for the second half of the ODI series. After all it wasn’t only he who had failed to take wickets at the start of the tour.

“I came in with a lot of confidence in Perth. I was very confident of beating the batsmen in flight. What happens is sometimes you just miscalculate. The straight boundaries were pretty short, so there is a very fine line between trying and being smart and trying and trying being a little foolish. They took me on, which I was happy with because I thought I could get them out. I did end up getting a couple of wickets in the second spell as well. When I came down to Brisbane, it was a little more calculative because we wanted to restrict them as much as possible and it had to be a defensive role,” he explained in a way only he can.

‘Nothing wrong with bowling’

But he was quick to add that there wasn’t anything wrong with the way he bowled, it was just that he went for runs. It was a series where even the Australian bowlers, from Nathan Lyon to Kane Richardson, who were taken for big runs—often conceding in excess of 70 runs. “At the end of the day, I think it’s been a batters’ tournament, so you’ve got to stick to your basics and hope that you put the balls in the right place. When I came back I was pretty confident, I had my plans in place and I also had the extra fielder outside the circle which was a big advantage,” he said.

It has also seemed evident that the Australians have obviously been keen to go after Ashwin and put him off his game from the early going. They hardly let him settled down in Perth and Brisbane, and they stuck to that plan even in Adelaide. Ashwin was in fact taken for 17 runs in his first over as he took the new-ball, but it was he who had the last laugh, finishing with 2/28 in his four overs. And the off-spinner was told about how it looked like the Aussie batsmen had the license to go after him. But as always it was Ashwin who had the final word.

“If they have a license, I have a license to pick up wickets too. And it’s not like their off-spinner has gone very kindly, he’s gone for 80 runs in all the games, that’s the way the series is. It’s not about an off-spinner, I think everybody has gone for runs,” he reiterated.