Rajasthan Royals (RR) spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was left “surprised” by the umpires' decision to change the ball because of the dew in their IPL 2023 fixture against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk on Wednesday (April 12).
The heavy dew at the MA Chidambaram Stadium prompted the umpires to change the ball on their own during the chase, but Ashwin called for consistency while taking such calls.
"I'm quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It's never happened before and I'm quite surprised. Some of the decisions in this year's IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed to be honest," Ashwin said at the post-match press conference.
"I mean, (it) left me flummoxed in a good or a bad way. It's because I think what you need is a little bit of balance.
"As a bowling team, we are not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpires' accord. I did ask the umpire and he said we can change it.
"So I just hope every time there is dew they can change it every single time going forward in this IPL that sort of, you can do whatever you want, but you just need to be in a standard going forward," he added.
Coming to the match, the Royals defeated the hosts by three runs in a nail-biting clash. CSK skipper MS Dhoni and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja failed to score 21 runs off the last over against Sandeep Sharma while chasing the target of 176.
Ashwin starred with the ball for RR, returning with the figures of 2 for 25 in his four overs. Ajinkya Rahane (31) and Shivam Dube (8) were his victims as the senior off-spinner earned the Player-of-the-Match award.
"I'm just enjoying the way I'm bowling and I'm not giving it too much thought. For someone like me, who bowls in different phases of the game, I have to be prepared to bowl different lengths, different speeds and different trajectories.
"So, I think what I've realised is even Sanjay (Manjrekar) asked me 'are you keeping it a lot more simple?' You keep it simple only when you attain a certain amount of mastery over things, I feel. I think, I probably gauge things and deliver what I think is the best for that situation.
"So, for me, at the moment, I'm just really enjoying my bowling and I'm looking at deceiving the batsman a lot more in the flight. That's because of where I find myself with bowling," Ashwin remarked.
Reflecting on Shivam Dube’s dismissal, the veteran campaigner said: "He (Dube) is a designated spin hitter for CSK. The way he played Kuldeep (Sen) the previous over, I knew he was going to come after me.”
"Didn't have any deliberate plans but I feel the ball is coming out really well, I'm able to get it to drop, I'm able to put enough revs, I'm able to use both my variations, my length and the arm ball at the moment is really good. I'm just happy the way it is coming out," he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
