ASHWIN UNPERTURBED BY CHATTER ABOUT PITCH

Ace off-spinner says that India never complained about surfaces

AHMEDABAD: Premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday said that he is hardly perturbed by all the talk surrounding the surface winning over skills set and took a dig at critics who are seeking to undermine India’s massive wins in recent times.

Ashwin, on Friday, had put out a series of tweets, in which he tried to emphasise how a particular thought process is being “marketed” and creating an issue. “I am absolutely not disturbed with things being taken away from the context because this is what’s been happening for the last decade, if not more,” Ashwin, who is now the second fastest to 400 Test wickets, said.

“That is why I put out the tweets. I think that people need to get the context of what’s happening here. There have been some people who have messaged me and said that the match finished in two days.” When a British journalist asked if he felt the pitch used for the third match against England at Motera was good for Test cricket, Ashwin gave him a prompt counter.

“I have a question back. What is a good cricket surface?” Ashwin shot back. “I am the one asking the question... good contest between bat and ball?” the journalist was insistent. “What makes a good surface? Who defines this? Seam on the first day and then bat well and then spin on the last two days? Come on! Who makes all these rules? We need to get over it and not talk about whatever picture you want to paint,” Ashwin’s sarcasm was not lost on anyone.

“If you are asking if it is a good Test surface, I don’t see any of the players coming from England having an issue with it. They want to improve and look like they want to have a contest. Is it the people who are reporting that want their players to not compete and complain about the pitches? We have never done that on any of the tours.”

The scribe had a follow-up question. “Hoping for a similar surface in the next Test?” he asked. “It depends on what you are hoping for. We are hoping for a good cricket match.” Asked if he felt hurt by Yuvraj Singh’s tweet about Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh getting 1,500 and 800 wickets on these kinds of tracks, he gave an interesting reply.

“The reason behind my tweets was definitely not in context to anybody in particular. When I read Yuvi pa’s tweet, I actually didn’t get affected at all because I didn’t find that he was telling us anything, trying to suggest anything. It just felt like a really plain tweet, saying ‘we were good and...’” Ashwin said a lot without saying much.

If you are asking if it is a good Test surface, I don’t see any of the players coming from England having an issue with it. They want to improve and look like they want to have a contest R Ashwin,

India spinner