Haren
Spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed the headlines not for his bowling but for his efforts on the field on Saturday when he took a superb catch to dismiss New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell in the 2nd day of the 3rd Test between India and New Zealand at Wankhede.
Just when New Zealand were starting to gain a foothold in the match, Ashwin ran 19 meters from mid on to take a fabulous running catch after Ravindra Jadeja had enticed a false stroke from Mitchell.
Speaking about the catch post-match, Ashwin said, “I was just telling myself that it’s going to anyway leave me, I wanted to get as close to the ball as possible and and I’ve got great hands, so I trusted my hands to go through with it.”
Runs backwards
Keeps his eyes 👀 on the ball
Completes an outstanding catch 👍Sensational stuff from R Ashwin! 👏 👏
Live ▶️ https://t.co/KNIvTEy04z#TeamIndia | #INDvNZ | @ashwinravi99 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/ONmRJWPk8t
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 2, 2024
He also gave his two cents on the Wankhede pitch and said that he did not expect it to be so slow.
“I expected a lot more bounce and speed from this Mumbai pitch, it has been quite slow which is a surprise for me. It’s not a typical Bombay pitch, but much slower than usual,” he said.
He also explained why he used the carrom ball, the one bowled with a flick of two fingers which turns the other way round. The similar delivery got Glenn Phillips who didn’t read him from the hand.
“The game itself is divided into two halves. The one from the pavilion end and from the other end, it’s slightly behaving differently. It’s slightly flatter from the one where we are bowling from the dressing room side, the bounce is much lesser. So I thought I will try and use it the other way. The (NZ) batters are also knowing that it’s easier to take me on from this side. So I wanted to give something different,” he explained.
