“I’ve kind of enjoyed it”- Ravichandran Ashwin on batting higher up the order for Rajasthan Royals
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Ravichandran Ashwin
Rajasthan Royals had a poor outing last night as they were easily defeated by the Delhi Capitals by 8 wickets. However, while Ravichandran Ashwin did not enjoy the ball, he certainly raised eyebrows with his batting. Promoted up the order, Ashwin came in at No.3 to score his maiden T20 half-century. Ashwin did well to anchor the innings but the Royals could only manage 160.
Surpassingly it was not a spur of the moment decision to send Ashwin early on. In fact, the Royals have tried to send Ashwin early in previous matches as well. The objective is clear, to keep the finishers from coming out to bat too early and get out. Every time the Royals suffer an early setback when batting, they send in Ashwin as an extra batsman who has shone with the bat in recent years. The plan was even conveyed to Ashwin before the IPL began when he was announced as a Rajasthan Royals player.
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Ravichandran Ashwin explains his role and plan batting higher up the order
Spelling about his role, Ravichandran Ashwin explained, “Starting from the season, it was communicated properly to me that I’d be used up the order. We had a few practice games as well where I opened, and I’ve kind of enjoyed it. I have worked a lot on my batting, so it’s nice to see whatever it’s been worked on translates on the field. Pretty good feel about the knock today, nevertheless it didn’t come in a winning cause.”
When asked if he is sent higher up the order only against specific teams, the 35-year-old replied, “No specific plans [like that], ” he said. “It’s just to keep good intent, keep [his] mental preparation. I’ve been in good batting rhythm before the season. I’ve worked on my weight transfer forward, I’ve made some technical switches, have looked to increase scoring options, some changes to my bat swing. Hopefully, I can keep taking it forward.”
“Today the pitch wasn’t quite the easiest so there was communication around that,” Ravichandran Ashwin said. “Obviously, the communication to keep going out to play for a few more overs and set it up keeps coming in. More often than not, if you find yourself hitting the 100-run mark by the 13th over, you end up getting to 180, that’s generally the kind of algorithm that works.”Today again we hit the 100-mark on a quite tough pitch while batting first, I think just maybe 15-20 short at the end but like I said you never really know unless both sides have played. We’ve made a good fist of these sorts of low-scoring games in the past but today, the wickets, catches – nothing really went our way in the second half. It was not our day.”
Ravichandran Ashwin also spoke about the Royals missing Shimron Hetmyer as the player has gone to his hometown to witness the birth of his first child. Hetmyer has established himself as one of the tournaments’ best and most consistent finishers. Ahead of players like Russel and Pollard. The player’s absence was definitely felt and the Royals only managed 53 of their last 6 overs last night.
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Shubham Mohta
(334 Articles Published)