Had a weird feeling that Jennings would have a good day: R Ashwin

Mumbai: R Ashwin, who scalped four wickets on day one of the fourth Test against England, once again showed why he is the number one bowler going around as India restricted the Alastair Cook-led side at 288 for 5 at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.

Ashwin, who had only one wicket against his name till the tea session, struck thrice in the final session as India did not allow England to be in the driver’s seat.

Talking about his bowling, Ashwin said, “The rewards for the spell (three wickets in the final session) came for what I did in the afternoon session because I thought that I bowled really well to (Keaton) Jennings and Moeen Ali and got (Joe) Root out in that spell. That was one of the better spells of the day and I got rewards as soon as I came back in the third spell.”

“Generally, Wankhede has always been a bat first and score big kind of a Test match. So, we knew we were up against the odds. Generally, there is some moisture early in the morning and we wanted to capitalise on it. But unfortunately, we could not. But the afternoon session was not all that bad. We gave away 90-odd runs and got out Root. So, we thought if we could patch it up, and finish the day with (England) 4-5 down. It would have been nice if England were 6 down, actually,” added Ashwin.

Ashwin also revealed what is the ideal way of attack for spinners on a track like Wankhede’s. “For starters length. For spinners, it’s always length, it is not so much line, it is very easy to bowl outside off and fire it away, but it’s length, length is very very important. If you can be very consistent with your length, you can still vary the line, that’s where the caught and bowled dismissal comes into play for an off-spinner. So I think it is more about length rather than line,” said Ashwin.

 “I must say, I reworked that dismissal (Root’s) in my head, because he has got out lot of times in the slips. In the last three test matches we have played, he nicked one in Vizag, I thought he nicked one and it was reviewed over and turned over, but he has got a tendency to nick spinners to the slip cordon , I saw him nick Dane Piedt in South Africa, he has done it quite a few times to Nathon Lyon (Australia) as well , so I was just imaging on the first day, this is one of the wickets out of the four Tests matches, where actually edges do carry to slips, so I was just mentally working it over and it happened,” Ashwin said as he discussed Root’s dismissal at length.

When asked about Karun Nair’s dropped catch, a sharp chance at gully to cut short Keaton Jennings’ innings, and India’s fielding performance in the Test series, Ashwin said, “Yeah, but we can’t be hard on those catches (Nair’s). I think those were less than 50-50. We’ll have to give it to them. Yes we have put on (down) a few catches in the series including me over the series, but I think those cannot really count on (our) chances, we have taken them brilliantly.”

Ashwin was also wholesome in his praise for Jennings’ 112-run knock on debut.

“Obviously, a debut century are (is) special for him. I thought I had a weird feeling when the ball popped over Karun (Nair), he might have a good day because he had a great season for Durham, he just continued from where he left off. I guess he has got a good tight defence, looks a very good player.”

While all the Indian bowlers toiled hard and India did not allow England to enjoy an upper hand at stumps on day one, the Virat Kohli-led side missed Mohammed Shami’s services. The Bengal speedster was not picked in the playing XI after he complained of sore knee following the Mohali Test.

“(Mohammed) Shami has been one of those go to bowlers for us to try and break partnerships and also close out the innings. He’s been fabulous over the last year, 12-18 months and he’s someone who we definitely missed, I thought if he was around, may be we could have ended up snapping one or two more wickets, but that’s how the game goes.”

Ashwin also expressed concern over umpire Paul Reiffel’s freakish injury. The Australian was rushed to the hospital after a Bhuvneshwar Kumar throw hit the back of his head.

“I need to check on Paul as to how he is. He definitely got rattled after he got hit. Those are incidents that can look funny from a distance but he was definitely rattled. We need to keep a check on him,” said Ashwin.

Ashwin, who recently became the joint fastest to clinch 200 Test wickets, on Thursday went past Javagal Srinath’s tally of 236 Test wickets. The otherwise very aware Ashwin was caught off-guard with this bit of information.

“Thank you. Honestly that’s the first time I am hearing. I was not aware of that record. He was one of the champion bowlers for India. It was not on my radar when I started playing cricket and I am lucky,” concluded Ashwin.