“Once the twilight hits and the dew comes in, the ball gets greasy” – Ravichandran Ashwin wants ICC to address toss factor in 2023 ODI World Cup

Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on the significance of dew in the upcoming 2023 ODI World Cup in India.

The off-spinner wants the games to start early to prevent the toss benefitting the chasing team due to dew. He added that dew is more predominant in winter, with the ICC tournament set to take place in October and November.

Since the 2019 World Cup, the Men in Blue have lost four of 18 ODIs at home, including three while defending (versus West Indies, England and Sri Lanka). Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said:

“Once the twilight hits and the dew comes in, the ball gets greasy, and the rest is history. It’s very difficult. The umpires are extremely reluctant to change these balls because of dew. The umpires need to be neutral, and you need to be seen as not all in favour of any team. Hence, this ball change is almost impossible.”

He continued:

“And mind you, this World Cup is happening in the months of October and November. So, we can expect that there will be a lot of dew.”

Ashwin also pointed out that India captain Rohit Sharma was even questioned about the dew factor in a recent press conference. He said:

“Why is it more imperative to start games at 11:30. In fact, the question was asked to Rohit Sharma during a PC, and he did say that it is left to the broadcasters.”

Rohit was questioned about the dew following India's narrow escape by 12 runs against New Zealand in the first ODI while defending 349 in Hyderabad on Wednesday (January 12).

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“Innate strength of India can sometimes get lost” – Ravichandran Ashwin on role of spinners in ODI World Cup

Ashwin added that dew can have a dampening effect on spinners, which is one of the strengths of the Indian team. He added that spinners would face a stiff challenge against quality players from Australia and England owing to the shorter ground dimensions in India.

“I spoke about 11:30 start, and you’ve got a power combo teams like Australia and England. You’ve got Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Marcus Stonis, so on and so forth to come to finish the games."

Ashwin added:

"One of our spinners is bowling, and he bowls a really good ball that catches the bottom of the blade and goes for a six (because of shorter boundaries like 58m as compared to 70m boundary). Now think for a moment about the mindset of the particular spinner. He’s gone for a six of a good ball."

He added:

“Now he doesn’t know whether he needs to repeat the same ball, or he needs to react to the previous ball. India’s innate strength has been its quality spinners. Innate strength of India can sometimes get lost.”

Ashwin will next play in the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, which starts in Nagpur on February 9.