Accuracy is key in Aus: Ashwin
First Published : 11 Feb 2012, 11:58
Last Modified : 11 Feb 2012, 12:02
Adelaide, Feb 11: India are set to face Australia for the second time in the ODI tri-series, at the Adelaide Oval, on Sunday. Although they lost the opening game to the hosts, India are in high spirits after beating the Sri Lankans at WACA. Man-of-the-Match in India’s victory over SL, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, spoke to the press about his bowling experience in Australia.
Excerpts from the pre-match press conference:
On the difference in the wickets on different grounds
It is all similar. There is true bounce. If you are not on your mark and if it’s not coming out particularly that day, you can go for a lot of runs. You have to be very accurate on these wickets. Moving from one city to another is pretty much like in India so you will have to adjust to the conditions quickly.
On whether there was a difference between using a 50-over old ball and a 25-over old ball
The ball remains much harder and the seam is much more upright [on a 25-over old ball] than a 50-over old ball. For example, we used to change the ball in the 34th over. Now after 34 overs we are still changing the ball but there is a difference between a 25-over old ball and a 34-over old ball as far as the Kookaburra is concerned.
On whether the new rule helps spinners
The seam is upright and it can go anywhere. Sometimes it can spin and on really good wickets, when it is really flat, it can come on to the bat well. You can’t really say whether it is good or bad for the spinner. [...] It can go the other way but definitely with respect to the seamers it is causing a lot of trouble early on.
On whether it was possible to get more runs in the last fifteen overs
If you have wickets in hand, you can make use of the batting Powerplay better from overs 35 to 40. Holding wickets is going to be the key from now on with two new balls and not losing wickets upfront. I don’t know about the amount of runs you can accumulate but that is definitely going to be a high-scoring phase in the particular game – 35-50 overs.
