Ashwin happy with Kookaburra turf balls

There have been plenty of twists in the Vijay Hazare domestic tournament this season. With the change in the format of the tournament from zonal systems to the 4 random groups, even the weaker teams got to play the stronger ones and the presence of players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, MSD and Ashwin was just a cherry on the top of the cake. Another talking point has been the change of the Kookaburra regulation ball to the Kookaburra turf ball.

The problem with the regulation ball has been the deterioration of the ball over the time and the ball becomes too soft to play in the later stages of the game, however, the seam of the regulation ball was such that it could make a regular medium paced bowler look threatening.

The Kookaburra turf ball is being used for the first time in the tournament and provides a better balance. According to Ashwin, the ball manufacturer Kookaburra, has done justice with the quality of the ball. Ashwin is leading his home state, Tamil Nadu in the One-day domestic tournament.

Ashwin said, “The fact that we are using the Kookaburra Turf ball is welcome because it is a far better option in these conditions than the Kookaburra regulation ball, some kind of balance has been restored, one can say, and for us to play with this ball before we play in Australia means we are using the same ball in a match environment too."

Another notable change in the tournament was the timing of the matches which have now been scheduled to be in the morning and the toss winning team puts the other team to bat first. According to Ashwin, this has been a problem and should be fixed in such a manner that the team batting first is not at a disadvantage.

This is what Ashwin proposed, “These are not the kind of totals you get in international cricket. I suppose we have two options in front of us. Either we have a slightly later start, or the teams bat 10 overs each at the start of the day and then the team that batted first plays out its remaining 40 overs. But if this is how it is, then as players we are fine with that too.”

Ashwin thought that the he is learning a lot from the tournament and now that he is the captain of his side, he has tweaked himself accordingly to help the team. Ashwin explained finally, “As captain, I am trying to put systems in place, trying to show the way towards excellence. Along the way, I am ticking a few boxes personally as well.”

"I am trying to bowl in pressure situations, at the death, or I am batting either when we need to get a move on or when we have lost early wickets and we need to grind our way out of trouble. It might sound clichéd, but we want to play fearless cricket. We want to go out and express ourselves. Most of all, we want to inflict some serious scars on some good teams, and we want to last the distance."

Tamil Nadu captain, Ashwin will be aiming to go all the way in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after winning a nail-biter against Uttar Pradesh in the quarter-finals on Thursday.