‘No questions on Jo’burg, why cry about Nagpur’

Nagpur, November 26

In keeping with the aggressive position the Indian team has taken on the spin-friendly wickets rolled out for the Test series, R Ashwin today again asked why no questions are raised when an Ashes Test, at Trent Bridge, ends in just a shade over two days. On a more personal note, he cited the example of Johannesburg Test, in 2013, where he went wicketless and was subsequently dropped.

"I did not complain after Johannesburg (Test). I was dropped for a year after that. And, I am not going to complain playing here. There's no reason why I should have complaints,” he said. “Swing, seam and bounce for two days at Trent Bridge…. match over. I don't know what that's about."

ON pitch getting sluggish?

This wicket is getting sluggish by the day. It is pretty dry, it is pretty slow. And as I said already, everybody in this room is trying to report on cricket that is being played by both sides, I reckon. It is just getting out of hand. I don’t see a reason why it is being talked about so much. It's straight from my heart. You can beg to differ with me. There are enough good cricketers on both sides on whom we can talk about.

On bowlers getting into limelight

If that's the case, I wouldn’t mind it. Precisely speaking, it is about time we had a few bowlers in front of us, so that there are a few more coming through. We have had so many batters that everyone wants to pick up the bat and toss the ball away. If we can be that generation where we produce a couple of good spinners… It has been batting dominated sport in our country, and I hope it changes.

On using variations, even carrom ball here

I think on this wicket the batsmen need to plan how they going to bat. The area for scoring is pretty limited... But when you defend properly, it is still quite hard to get through the defence. I think to top it up this morning, the first four balls that I bowled, I think that pretty much swung the game in our direction. It was a copybook stuff, it looked like identical balls for me.

On the challenge to control spin

On a pitch like this, the person who can get the ball to go straight on is definitely going to bring both sides of the (bat’s) edge into play. That is exactly what my plan was in the first innings. In the second innings, I would definitely like to reverse the plan a little bit, the wicket is getting a little bit slower and we need to try and get the batsmen on the bounce and flight and all that.

How different were Indian spinners from SA spinners

It is quite natural you end up comparing the skills of spinners from both sides. What sometimes you don’t factor in is amount of rest a bowler gets. Simon Harmer bowled through the day yesterday and today he was back on. It is not going to be easy from a spinner’s point of view. If you want to bowl faster, it is going to get fuller and if you try and drop it a little in front of the bat, it is going to fall shorter. I can empathise with him, I have been there before.