Ashwin says teams have had to cope with a few unknowns during this World Cup
MELBOURNE: Past tours to Australia have not been a good pointer for teams this time around because of the early summer conditions and the cold, forcing cricketers to adapt fast to some unique challenges in this World Cup, according to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Asked what he expected in terms of conditions when he landed here, Ashwin said, “I thought my entire sunscreen will be used! Unfortunately, no! The cold has hit me. I generally like cold weather. I’ve been to England and played a lot of cricket there, but this has been very unique and different.
“If you are playing a Test match, you can warm up through the day or get better. But playing T20 cricket in this weather, not to know what the surface will be like, how it will respond, what the weather is like. . . it’s been a new experience coming to Australia. It’s been a unique World Cup that way,” Ashwin said.
Teams have struggled to cope with the incessant rain, the fresh pitches and conditions difficult for batting, with the result that T20 cricket’s usual slam-bang aesthetics have gone for a toss, making for more nuanced watching. “We’ve never come to Australia at this time of the year,” Ashwin said. “Generally, when it comes to the sport itself, conditions are king. So, you need to understand that this is what is being presented in front of you. T20 is one sport where you need to adapt quickly and also respond quickly. You don’t have the time or the bandwidth to be able to think, assess, deliver. The time spans are very short.
“You can’t make a concrete plan, go out there and say this is going to be my plan. You have to adapt to the situation then and there.”
The Indian team has also had to cope with constant travel, some of them long flights criss-crossing across the Australian landmass. “The one (other) thing is some other teams have managed to stay in one venue and play at a certain venue a couple of times, which the Indian team hasn’t had the luxury of doing, and rightly so,” Ashwin said. “There are a lot of Indian people around the country that want to watch the game, so it’s understandable.”
‘If teams won’t run out at non-striker’s end, will use it to my advantage’ Ashwin has always believed in the legitimacy of running out a batter at the non-striker’s end and he was unfazed by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson’s recent assertion that he would not favour this mode of dismissal.
“I also wouldn’t like to get out like that! I don’t like being nicked off, bowled, run out. I also wouldn’t like to get run out at the non-striker’s end because it’s a form of dismissal, and it’s pretty legal,” Ashwin said. “There are a lot of arguments around it. Like with anything else in this world, when some things happen, you’re going to have people with contradicting thoughts.
“Whether you want to do it or don’t want to do it is absolutely fine. It’s good to know that they won’t do it because you can run at the last minute and you can wait. If people are going to come out and say they won’t do it, as a cricketer I’ll use that as an advantage for myself.”
‘Match-ups add tactical edge to teams’
With match-ups being the buzzword inside change rooms in the hyper-analysed world of T20 cricket, Ashwin said it didn’t really matter if individual cricketers did or did not believe in match-ups to the extent of being guided solely by them. “I don’t think players necessarily have to innately believe in match-ups, but it’s an area that tactics are happening around. As a bowler you need to constantly bowl to a lot of batters and you need to know where the Achilles heels are. You want to add that to your skills.
“I think it (match-ups) is a feature that is existing and is being developed. As a playing unit, to only believe in that and say this guy will bowl to this person, you can’t work like that. But I think it’s giving a tactical edge to teams.”
