Debasis Sen, Gross Islet: Indian off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continued his good run with the bat against West Indies . The all-rounder struck his fourth century in his eighth match against them. He also became the third Indian after Gundappa Viswanath and VVS Laxman to hit four hundreds against West Indies, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar.
Ashwin had earlier slammed a match winning century in the first Test in Antigua as well. But the knock here at Darren Sammy Stadium was even special as it came at a testing time when India were reeling at 125/5. Speaking with the media after the days play, he termed his knock could be the defining moment of the series.
“It is a special hundred. I mean if we look at the scenario in hindsight later on this could very well be a series-defining knock because we were in some trouble yesterday and there was every chance that we could be skittled out and also I thought it needed a bit of application.”
Ashwin and Saha were involved in a record sixth wicket partnership against West Indies. They put on 213 runs between them, surpassing the previous best of 173 runs scored by Gavaskar and Shastri in Chennai in 1983. Talking about the partnership with Saha, he said, “When we got together we were in quite a bit of trouble and it was one of the wickets – I don’t know whether it’s improving any bit – where you are not in any time. There was a good chance that you might be nicked off or you might get a good ball any time. It was very difficult to score. So we went thought and bit the bullet quite hard and wanted to just stick in there even if the runs weren’t quite coming. Obviously, the results came later on. It was a good partnership and both enjoyed each other’s company to be very honest.”
Ashwin now have a greater responsibility as a No 6 batsman since Virat Kohli wants to play with five specialist bowlers in test matches. With two hundreds under his belt, batting at the new position, possibility of him batting at No. 6 in the long season ahead cannot be ruled out. But the bowler himself has different thoughts.
“It’s difficult to try and think too far ahead. Thankfully I had a very good preparation one month before the series. I batted quite a lot and devised a game-plan if and when I got a chance to bat at number six. The idea was to knock as many balls as possible. My goal is very simple. If I get a good start, if I get to 20 runs then I’m going to capitalise on it. Then I’m going to play percentage cricket. It’s all about trying to play the percentages and trying to string together a partnership and not look too far ahead in the game. What I I try to do is to bat sessions. .”
Asked to comment about Saha’s knock and the discussion they were having in the middle, he said, “Saha expressed himself this morning, he played quite a few shots. To me, it was very important that I hung around, because that sort of solidity was very important. We knew we were about 50-60 runs away from any kind of respectability so my game-plan was very simple. As I walked in yesterday, I walked in today. I wanted to leave the balls and I wanted to play close to the body. Try and bat time, it was not about knocking off the hundred and going and playing shots, it was all about batting time and trying and stringing partnerships.
When Saha and me were batting, we were communicating about which way the ball was swinging, what the bowler was trying to do. There was a lot of help when the bowlers bowled cross seam, and we’ve communicated to the bowlers and we hope they will find their rhythm tomorrow as well.
Lastly, he was asked to comment on the wicket. He feel there is definite help in the wicket, it’s not like you can just plonk your feet and hammer it through the line, it’s not that sort of wicket. You have got to be patient, I guess. Long partnerships came in, one breakthrough and somebody gets into a spell. That’s what we’re looking at. If and when a couple of wickets fall, we can squeeze and jam them in.
The thing is that, they did get some momentum, I believe, from the Jamaica Test, but that’s how Test cricket is like. We didn’t come over here thinking or expecting to roll them over. They’re also a Test team, and in their home conditions, it’s going to be hard and we expected it.