Looking forward to one of the greatest sporting challenges, i.e bowling off-spin in Australia, during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the immensely skilful and exceptional Ravichandran Ashwin has said that it is the mental and tactical planning as well as preparation for the challenge that will be key for him and the Virat Kohli led the Indian side.
Speaking in an interview with Sportstar on the sidelines of Tamil Nadu’s Ranji trophy match against MP in Dindigul, Ashwin said, "Most of the planning is in terms of what you have learned from your previous tours. Its all about trying to adapt and learn from what didn't work last time and be prepared for it."
"For me, it is not entirely about game time in the middle. I prefer the net time more and train and try to get into the best possible phase," he revealed and stressed, "In Australia, from my past experience, it is more about remaining in the best possible physical state. And, to an extent, getting the pace right as a spinner. Sometimes, you can find yourself bowling too slow or fast, so you have to adapt to the different pitches."
On whether this is India's best chance to win to pull off a Test series victory in Australia, the off-spinner feels, "If I say yes, it is going to blow things out of proportion. We had some good chances in England and SA and we didn't put it to bed. We could have very well done it," he emphasized, "In Australia, until we bury those things and go out, and show we are capable of it, it is very important to stay balanced and play good cricket."
While the margin of defeats in South Africa and England were narrow, the criticism following loss has been widespread and quite harsh. When asked how he and the team deal with it and focusses on the present, Ashwin said, "I don't know what the leadership group feels about it genuinely. They decide on how they want to go about things in the future and how they went about, and what they felt are the weak areas. I have enough on my plate to work on. I have my own batting and bowling to look at. I have also had my challenges with my fitness. So, I am very clued up on that."
"I haven't had any conversation with regard to this with any of them. Whoever be that leadership group or whoever is in charge, it is important to respect how they are going about things," he added and signed off with, "We need to respect how they want to take things forward and just go behind it, rather than actually trying to double guess or contribute when it is not required."
