Fatullah : Backing the team’s decision of picking five bowlers on what looks to be a good batting track, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said that the bowling department will certainly use their Australian experience on placid Bangladesh wickets in the ongoing Test.
“I think it’s an individual perception, they probably saw the wicket in a way they wanted to see it and we are seeing it in a different way. We have got bowlers who can exploit with 140 kmph plus, if there is a bit of reverse swing,” Ashwin said.
“It’s also about how the bowlers are bowling. Our bowlers have been pretty good and they have learnt a lot over the last months in Australia. We are backing ourselves and we are looking to play the best possible bowlers we have. I think every side does that, play the best possible bowlers they have,” he added.
“As far as I see it, cricket is a game where even if you look to control the controllable it is very hard. You can’t really control the weather it’s out of our reach and we have put our best foot forward,” said 28-year-old Ashwin. “We have played five bowlers and we will look at the best possible result. If the time is there and if we bowl really well and we get a little bit of help and a little bit of luck then we can force a result. We will look to control the controllable,” he said.
Ashwin was all praise for the opening batsmen, who mixed the right dose of caution and aggression to manage a run-rate of 4.26 i the day.
“That’s pretty much the way our openers bat. Shikhar plays his game usually and Vijay settles into his game. So it’s pretty much what happened. There was no conscious effort in terms of we have to do this. But there is a good sense of trying to express everyone inside the team and we are looking to play with a lot of freedom and hopefully that’s what is expressed outside in the field.
“And there is no particular reason why we play a particular combination. It’s just about trying to add consistency from where we left off in Sydney. So thats how we are approaching it,” he added.
The Tamil Nadu veteran also defended the hosts’ decision to prepare a placid batting track.
“I think it’s the brand of cricket that team’s play and that really pulls the crowd into the field. You and I, even if I was a spectator I would turn up for a batsman hitting sixes and fours. That’s how the game is headed and we need to accept and live with it.”—PTI
