Published: Jul 13, 2023, 09:45 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 13, 2023, 09:45 AM (IST)
India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin opened up on his recently concluded World Test Championship 2023 final snub. The 36-year old cricketer was part of the India squad but was unable to make it to the playing XI.
However, India lost the WTC final against Australia by 209 runs as batters unable to fire runs during the 1st innings at The Oval.
“When we went to play the WTC Final this time, I was fully prepared mentally and physically to play the game, but I also prepared to not play the game. If I’m not playing, how do I respond. It was unfortunate we couldn’t win” said Ashwin (Vimal Kumar YT).
However, the all-rounder Ashwin is now playing for India against Windies for the 1st Test against Windies at Dominica. He picked up five wickets to bundle out Windies on 150 runs on the first day of 1st Test.
With more than an hour available for batting skipper Rohit Sharma (30 batting, 65 balls) and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 batting, 73 balls) added 80 runs for the opening stand to bring down first innings deficit to 70 going into second day.
The new pair looked comfortable as there is not much help for the bowlers with Indian skipper hitting his customary ‘Nataraja’ pull-shot and soothing straight drive. Jaiswal also hardly showed any signs of nerves as he played close to his body for better part of evening.
“Thought it was a pretty good performance. There was a bit of moisture on the pitch earlier but it started to spin later. Saw on the TV as well that it turned more later. Had to adapt early. It was a bit dry, have to get the pace right to trouble the batsmen. International cricket is all about adapting to different conditions. With so many leagues around, we can get carried away with a few performances in these leagues but international cricket is different. Jaiswal is a vibrant cricketer, extremely talented. I hope he goes on to do great things in his career. I think we’re going to see some special performances from him.”
