Chennai: India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin asserted Tuesday that more than the turning Chepauk pitch, it was the ‘mind of the England batsmen’ that helped his team dominate the second Test here. Ravichandran Ashwin also credited his ‘pace and guile’ for getting the maximum out of the track.
The quality of the pitch became a subject of intense debate. Former England players like Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen mocked it for being a dust bowl. England assistant coach Graham Thorpe had termed it ‘challenging’”.
Ashwin was named man-of-the-match for his match figures of eight for 96 and a brilliant century in India’s second innings. He played down the talk surrounding the pitch. England were bowled out for 164 in pursuit of 482 here Tuesday.
“As much as people were predicting from the outside, I thought the balls that was doing much wasn’t getting wickets. It was the mind of the batsmen that got us wickets,” Ashwin said.
“I have been playing for years over here now. It takes pace and guile to get wickets. Keeping intent was very important,” Ashwin added.
Ashwin said he enjoyed his game in front of the home crowd as he is ‘aware’ of home conditions. “Every load up gives a different result in terms of which way the pitch is behaving. I try and load up differently. I use the breeze, use different angles to release the ball, speed of the run-up. This is working because I have created this awareness for myself,” Ashwin pointed out.
“This wicket was very different to the one we played on in the first game. This was a red soil wicket, the first one was a clay wicket,” said the 34-year-old who is just six short of the 400-wicket milestone.
Ashwin also talked about his fifth Test ton. “It is very important to put the pressure on the bowlers because if you allow them to dictate terms, it is going to get easier. I just wanted to take it upon myself, and after I connected the first ball, I knew I got a hang of this wicket. I am someone who tries hard, and when things don’t go my way, I try harder,” he added.
Axar Patel, who took five for 60 in England’s second innings on his Test debut, said variation in speed of the deliveries helped him. “It’s a good experience, to get a five-wicket haul on debut is special,” he said.
“There was much happening on the pitch. It was about varying your speed and I just kept doing it. I forced the batsman to make mistakes. On the first day itself, it was turning. So, we bowled tight lines and got the rewards,” added Patel.