Ravichandran Ashwin hails Yadav-Chahal's adaptability for their success in South Africa
Ravichandran Ashwin has hailed the brilliant adaptability shown by Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in their first South Africa tour to help India take a 2-0 lead in the ODI series. The duo has picked up 13 of the 18 South African wickets that have fallen so far in the ongoing ODI series.
Ashwin has not been a part of India's limited overs side since the 2017 Champions Trophy. Regardless of his form, he and Ravindra Jadeja have been reduced to a Test specialist, thanks to BCCI's squad rotation policy, with youngsters Chahal and Yadav taking his place.
India
“I think there is a bit of novelty factor there. It is not about wrist finger or finger spin, it is about the ability to adapt. When T20 first started people thought there was no place for spinners. Then, finger spinners dominated literally for 10 years and then wrist spinners started doing well, which is good. It is more about adaptability,” said Ashwin as quoted by PTI.
The spinner also tweeted about the performance shown by the India wrist spinners
India has been amazing in both the ODI s and the wristies have been amazing, great effort to go 2-0 up and fingers crossed for 6-0. Well done imVkohli , @yuzi_chahal and @imkuldeep18 👌👏🇮🇳💯#INDvSA
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) February 4, 2018
Ashwin is currently playing in Tamil Nadu squad for the 2018 Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he helped his side defeat Gujarat by picking up two wickets in the last match. He stated that he is happy with his performance and is not worried about his place in the 2019 World Cup.
“As I told you I can only do my part. I don’t think I am in that phase of my career that I am going to fret much and look forward to something, Genuinely speaking if I am good enough I will play and I have always believed I have been very good enough to play as a bowler in any team. That is my self-confidence. But I will try to strengthen my ammunition.” said Ashwin.
The Indian spinner has interestingly been trying out the leg-spin in recent times, which would surely excite Kings XI Punjab fans who shelled out over 7 crores to acquire his services.
“I am not looking at it as evolution or anything. I have been practising that for some time. This is part of my plan going into the IPL and all that. I am trying to build my armoury. At the top of my run-up, I must have more up my sleeve,” said the tweaker.
“I am getting good game time. Doing it under pressure is more important.“\To be honest my career has been such that people have always said I tried a lot. And when I didn’t try a lot I lost my place. It is a kind of give and takes, the game’s demands are such,” he added.
Ashwin’s bowling average in home matches is 23.04 which is far better than his away average, which is 31.67 in Test matches. Similarly, his bowling average in ODIs for the home conditions is 30.87 whereas in away matches is 42.78.
“Most of the talk has been pretty much overrated. Yes, I have failed a game here and there. It has to be taken in perspective. I am sure people do fail on occasions. I have had opportunities to get big hauls, and it has not turned around. But I am sure it will turn around,” said the Tamil Nadu spinner.
Ashwin who has played for Worcestershire last year still plans to play for the team during offseason.
“In all likelihood, I will be going back for a few games. The problem is after the IPL, the number of games between June and July is very less. We start on August 1. So there will be about two-three games or four at max. But that will be good practice. I am still talking. If at all I am going, I will be going back to Worcester,”
