After picking up his 32nd five-wicket haul in Test cricket, Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday said he will “go to bed feeling a lot better”. The ace off-spinner’s 6/91, which saw go level with James Anderson at sixth in the list of bowlers with most five-wicket hauls in men’s Test, helped India dismiss Australia for 480 on day two of the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad.
Ashwin also broke Anil Kumble’s record of most five-wicket hauls at home by an India bowler with his 26th at home.
While the match has been undoubtedly dominated by Australia, Ashwin conceded less than two runs an over in his marathon bowling effort.
Ashwin said the pace off the pitch allowed batters like centurion Usman Khawaja to play off the back foot frequently.
“The pace of the pitch allowed the batters to play a lot more off the back-foot. I did that in Australia as well during the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy and one of the idea is to force batsman to miss the pace or trajectory,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by PTI in the post-day press conference.
“I felt pace off the pitch whenever I bowled, the trajectory was a bit fuller and batters tend to go on back-foot which Usman was doing throughout the game. Because a different wrist cock will get the seam in a different position. All these are complexities inside my head and how it comes out is how the batters see it,” he added.
To pick up six wickets on a pitch which offered barely an assistance to bowlers felt fulfilling for Ashwin.
“You can go to bed feeling a lot better instead of having just three wickets in your kitty. It does feel good as you end up with a good bag of wickets, even if you don’t bowl sometimes, you feel good about it. I will go to bed tonight a bit early and also a bit happier,” said Ashwin.
The Tamil Nadu bowler credited his six-wicket haul to changes he has made in his technique since India’s tour of Bangladesh last year.
“…and whatever changes I have put in — loading (getting into delivery stride), cocking my wrists (wrist position), all those things have proved that my spells have been a lot more penetrative. Probably it was in Bangladesh and I don’t think I was at my best,” Ashwin said.
“However smaller changes that I have made has ensured that I have got enough purchase off the pitches, and it’s done more in the air than what it did in Bangladesh.
“It wasn’t a pitch where a lot was going for me so I had to use the scrambled seam, the drift and whatever was available, I would take it with both hands,” he added.
After bowling for almost two days in the Ahmedabad heat, Ashwin said he is hopeful the India batting lineup could also put up a big total on a batting-friendly pitch.
“This is a game of second innings but we have to bat well and probably see some of our top order batters get a big score and have some chance and come out batting day after tomorrow, I will be cheering batters from bottom of my heart after a day like this as a bowler,” he said.
“All I know is that there is enough rolling and enough cut grass that has gone underneath that surface. I play a lot of cricket in Chennai, where there is a lot of cut grass and rolling, and I expect the pitch to be nice and hard and probably break as the game goes on which I hope is not for next five sessions,” Ashwin added.