Will look back at Mohali chase really fondly for rest of my life, states Ashton Turner
Ashton Turner, who famously stunned India in Mohali earlier this year with his breathtaking stroke play, has stated that he will look back on that knock fondly for the rest of his life. Turner has been plagued by injuries since but has now been named in Australia's T20 squad to face Sri Lanka.
On March 10, 2019, a young boy from Western Australia named Ashton Turner, playing in just his second ODI, rocked the whole cricketing world with his scarcely believable knock of 84* against a formidable Indian team, helping his team chase down an impossible target of 359. The knock helped Australia stay alive in a series which they subsequently went on to win and Turner became an overnight star post his heroics. The 26-year-old has now revealed that he will cherish that knock for the rest of his life.
"It's something that I’ll look back on really fondly for the rest of my life probably," Turner told cricket.com.au.
It was an injury to all-rounder Marcus Stoinis that resulted in Turner debuting for the Aussies and the youngster has now revealed that making his ODI debut came as a shock, with him expecting his Western Australian teammate to get through the series without any trouble. But as it turned out, Stoinis had to eventually sit out the match, meaning Turner walked into the team to represent Australia for the first time in one day cricket.
"I've played with him (Stoinis) a fair bit for Western Australia and he's a pretty tough bloke, so I thought there's no way he's not going to play this game, particularly with an ODI series on the line," Turner recalled of his second ODI outing for Australia.
"So I remember going to sleep the night before, and cricket was the furthest thing from my mind - I honestly thought I had no chance to play. When I got the tap on the shoulder at the toss to say you're playing, it was a bit of a shock to me and looking back on it, I think it was probably a good thing," the 26-year-old recalled.
Walking in to bat with the score 229/4 with Australia still needing 130 runs to win in over 13 overs, an Indian victory seemed like a mere formality. However, what followed next brought the entire cricketing world to a standstill, as the young Aussie pummeled an Indian attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneswar Kumar to all parts of the ground, registering an unbeaten 43-ball 84 to take his team over the line.
Turner, who is a star back home in T20 cricket for the Perth Scorchers, has revealed that the scoreboard pressure suited his natural style of play and that all he did was play his natural game.
"I didn't have that nervous energy going into the game, and when I got a chance to bat, there was so much scoreboard pressure on it really suited my game style or game plan. Having just played the Big Bash (with Perth Scorchers) it felt like my T20 game was in a really good place, and I was able to bat like that," Turner said.
Turner, who started his career off as an all-rounder, has since given up bowling due to a problem in his shoulder, a problem for which he underwent surgery earlier this year. However, the 26-year-old is eyeing to get back to bowling once again now and is confident that he will be able to roll his arm over, come the time of the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League.
"I'm not too far away from getting back to bowling, and I'm hoping that particularly in T20 cricket it won’t be long before I can play as an allrounder again. Throwing is going to take a bit more time, but by the start of the Big Bash, I fully expect to be bowling again and be able to play a role for the Scorchers, or for Australia. It's a really important part of my game, particularly in white-ball cricket."
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