R Ashwin: I felt like a chicken out of the box

Ravichandran Ashwin plays a shot during his innings of 40 against England on day 1 of the 4th Test at Old Trafford

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, playing in his first Test since Johannesburg in December 2013 compared his himself to being “a chicken out of the box” when he entered the pitch after missing 6 matches. The right-hander batting at No.8 scored a fluent 40 against the run of play to save India’s blues along with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford.

"I don't know how I feel about getting back again in the side. But when I went out to bat, I felt like a chicken out of the box. I was very scratchy when my innings started and the ball was doing too much.

"So I just tried to stick in there for a while and see what happens. But I am disappointed with the way I got out. I have only myself to blame for that. If we had more runs we could have put more pressure on them,” he said after the end of first day’s play.

Management’s call to bat first

The cricketer gave due credit to his England counterparts for bundling out India for 152 on the first day by the stroke of tea. The tall bowler also defended the management’s call to insert the Indian batsmen on the fastest pitch of this English summer. The Old Trafford strip was expected to be on the faster side, assisting the seamers with bounce and carry.

Captain MS Dhoni decided to bat first in the morning, despite overcast conditions. India suffered huge setbacks early in the innings that saw four wickets fall by the beginning of the sixth over. Commenting on the pitch that consumed a total of 6 batsmen for a duck, Ashwin refused to blame their batsmen from any undoing.

"You cannot put a number on this pitch. There was something in the wicket for the bowlers to exploit and they bowled really well. Maybe we could have got a few more runs, you always want more runs. But we did well to get those wickets in the end and we are still in the game.

"The wickets are pretty much similar in all the matches and the conditions were a bit different. So it was entirely the management's call to bat first after winning the toss. In the end they bowled very well and used the conditions very well," the 27-year-old added.

Chances of a win

England are just 39 runs adrift of India’s score with seven wickets in hand, but, the offie was upbeat about India’s chances to grab a win in the match.

"There have been times in the Ranji Trophy when teams have made a similar start. Mumbai were 0/5 at one stage if I remember and then they went on to win. So I am personally drawing inspiration from that and I believe we are still in the game. I am just disappointed that I threw away my wicket because maybe I could have scored more runs," the lad from Tamil Nadu mentioned.

Praise for Dhoni

33-year-old Dhoni played a prominent knock of 71 in India’s 152 and Ashwin heaped praise on his captain.

"Dhoni played a brilliant innings, a gutsy innings. The ball was going around and in fact it was kicking off good length. So when we got together, he asked me to play my game, and play my shots, because that was the way to go. There were hardly any runs on the board and we were looking to rotate the strike. We didn't want to be sitting ducks in those conditions.

"We are still very much in the game. We need to knock a few wickets in the morning and hopefully we will get some good conditions to support us as well. Varun Aaron bowled well in short bursts and he did well to get us those two wickets. We are hoping he can go and complete a five-wicket haul,” he expressed hope.

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