R. Ashwin: 'I worked Joe Root’s dismissal in my head'

"In the last three Test matches, we have played, Joe Root nicked one in Vizag. He has got a tendency to nick spinners to the slip cordon. This is one of those wickets out where edges actually carry to the slips. So, I was just mentally working it over and it happened," Ravichandran Ashwin said about Joe Root's dismissal.

Published : Dec 08, 2016 19:25 IST

Ravichandran Ashwin (left) celebrates after picking the wicket of England's batsman Joe Root (right).
Ravichandran Ashwin (left) celebrates after picking the wicket of England's batsman Joe Root (right).
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Ravichandran Ashwin (left) celebrates after picking the wicket of England's batsman Joe Root (right).

>Ravichandran Ashwin persistently bowled over the wicket and close to the stumps to finally get rid of >Joe Root . Was it a deliberate effort to bowl in straight lines to the England right hander? “I must say I worked that dismissal in my head, because he has got out a lot of times in the slips. In the last three Test matches, we have played, he nicked one in Vizag. He has got a tendency to nick spinners to the slip cordon. I saw him nick Dane Piedt in South Africa. He has done it quite a few times to Nathan Lyon as well. I was just imagining on the first day that this is one of those wickets out of the four Tests we had (on) where edges actually carry to slips. So, I was just mentally working it over and it happened.”

Excerpts from his end of days press conference:

Taking three wickets post tea: I thought, the rewards in that spell came for what I did in the afternoon session. I thought, I bowled a really good spell then to (Keaton) Jennings and Moeen Ali. I got Root out in that spell.

On the Wankhede pitch: It has been a big bat-first always. We knew that we will be up against the odds. We knew that there will be some moisture (in the pitch) in the morning and wanted to capitalise on that, but we couldn’t unfortunately. The afternoon session, I thought, wasn’t all that bad. We gave away only 90-odd runs and took only one wicket obviously. But that was the big wicket of Root. We thought of taking a couple of wickets together and finish the day on four or five down. It would have been nice to finish on six down actually.

On Jennings: Obviously a debut century is very, very special for him. I just had a weird feeling that when that one at gully popped over Karun, I thought he might have a good day because he has had a great season for Durham this year. So, he has just continued from there. He’s got a very tight defence and looks a very good player.

READ: >Jennings enters the record books

Missing Shami: He has been one of those go-to bowlers for us to try and break partnerships and also to close out the innings. He’s been fabulous over the last 12 to 15 months. And he’s someone who we definitely missed. I thought if he was around, we could have ended up snapping one or two more wickets.

> On umpire Paul Reiffel’s misfortune: Idon’t know. I need to check on Paul. How is he? He was definitely rattled after he got hit. Those are the incidents that can look funny from a distance, but he was definitely rattled. Need to keep a check on him. We have had too many such instances in the recent past. (Ashwin was happy when told that a CT scan had cleared the former Aussie fast bowler.)

Going past Jawagal Srinath’s 236 Test wickets: This is the first time I am hearing it! He was one of the champion bowlers for India and to go past him is definitely (great). It wasn’t on my radar when I started playing cricket, so I am definitely lucky.

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