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This team is headed in right direction: R Ashwin

14 Aug 2016, 07:06 pm

This team is headed in right direction: R Ashwin
Summary

The all-rounder says there is camaraderie and honesty in the Indian team making it a very healthy environment

In the last five Test matches that R Ashwin has played, he has bagged the Man of the Match prize in three games. One was for his match haul of 12 wickets against South Africa at Nagpur while the other two has been for his all-round performance against the West Indies. After striking a century in the first Test batting at No. 6, Ashwin once again delivered with the bat in the third Test and perhaps registered the most crucial of his four Test centuries. He shared a 213-run stand with Wriddhiman Saha (104) to help India to a 350 plus score in the first innings. He is now the top wicket-taker in the series with 16 scalps from three games and is only 16 runs behind Virat Kohli, the leading run scorer in the series. Ashwin spoke to BCCI.TV after India shot West Indies out for just 108 runs to seal the series 2-0 with the final Test still to be played. You have seen many Test victories. This is yet another memorable win. Where do you rate this? Pretty highly. We drew in Jamaica and received a lot of flak that we could not complete the honours. There are so many factors that go into a Test win. The best thing about Test cricket is you get to learn a lot over a period of time. What you learn must be put into practice and we did that right away in this game and the results are there to be seen. This has been a comprehensive win. India recovered from 126/5 on the first day and still dominated despite the loss of an entire day’s play. See, the wicket was tough to bat on and I still maintain that. There was enough in the wicket even today (fifth day) for the bowlers to extract from the surface. What was evident was that once we recovered from that position (first day), we never really looked back. We kept on pressing forward and moved towards victory. On the fourth day, we were 72/3, but we didn't look back. It brings about a lot of attitude from the team to show what we are capable of and we did that. What was the talk within the bowling group after the third day’s play was wiped out as you had 90 overs less to bowl the opposition out? I think there were a few important things that came out of it. I think we bowled about 40-50 overs and had an entire day off. The bowlers were reasonably fresh and that is a good way to look at it. We looked at it positively. We had to knock them over the next day and we got a decent break. We got them out on the fourth day and on the fifth day again, we bowled our hearts out. Indian teams in the past have won Test series in West Indies but never have they won two matches in a series. This team has done it. This team ever since Virat took over has seen some very good highs in Test cricket. We lost one game in Galle, which was a big turnaround as we lost from a very favourable position, but we learnt quickly and put it to use in the very next game. In Sri Lanka, no team had won for a very long time and we did that. We beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka after 22 years and beat South Africa 3-0. This team has been on the right path. There is a good camaraderie going inside the dressing room. There is a lot of honesty. When these things are there inside the dressing room, it evidently shows on the field outside. You have been batting for long periods and then come out and do your primary role of bowling and picking wickets. How do you manage the both in terms of fitness it must be demanding? When I came through the ranks of club cricket back home, then Ranji and then for India, I was pretty much an all-rounder. I batted at four and bowled a lot of overs, but those were three days' games. Doing it for a span of five days is difficult. I am coming from a mindset that when I finish my career, I should not look back at one of those Test days and feel I could have given more. So I am giving my all now and see how it goes.